Reconsiderations

[FormerMember]

For your information:

https://asknod.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/varo-requests-for-reconsideration/

[RUREADY]

u find it yet??? Maybe Buck & Arng11 knows it

Edited October 27, 2015 by RUREADY

[RUREADY]

An appeals start at the RO and then too BVA at anytime in between

that u can file a reconsideration. SOC &SSOC is an appeals come

from RO if they miss something or evidence wasn't there you can

file it right then and there. You got 5 years before it gets to BVA for

an appeals and in between you cant ask for reconsideration??

 

Edited October 27, 2015 by RUREADY

[Buck52]

I agree with asknod.

''Once the appeal issues are ready for decision (RFD), ideally, NODs should be worked from the oldest pending to the newest received, with the exception of priorities, which include Homeless Veterans, Seriously Injured/Wounded Veterans, Congressional Inquiries, and Financial Hardship cases, etc.  Priorities are worked before all other pending claims.

This also means that a Veteran who has filed multiple NODs over time, may only receive a decision concerning his oldest pending NOD, while the issues contained in his other “younger” NODs remain pending.

The file is reviewed and decisions are rendered.  If all of the issues within an NOD can be granted in full, a rating is prepared to grant the issues.  Otherwise, we must issue a Statement of the Case (SOC) to the Veteran, which provides the applicable VA regulations and explains the reasons for the decision(s).

Once an SOC is issued, the DRO process is complete.  If the appeal continues, it is now under the Traditional appeals process.  DRO authority does not extend beyond the issuance of the SOC.

In order for a Veteran to continue the appeal, the VA must receive a Substantive (Formal) appeal, which is a VA Form 9, Appeal to Board of Veterans’ Appeals, or an equivalent statement of intent to continue the appeal.  There is no legal requirement that a specific VA Form must be received in order to continue an appeal, but VA must receive some form of communication in writing from the Veteran or his Representative indicating an intent to continue the appeal.

A Veteran has EITHER the remainder of one year from the initial decision notification letter, OR 60 days from the date the SOC was mailed, to file his Substantive appeal.  Otherwise, his appeal rights for those issues expire, and the NOD is closed.

If the Veteran has filed a timely Substantive appeal, the next step in the appeals process is to certify the appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA), which is to transfer jurisdiction of the appeal to BVA.

However, the Regional Office cannot physically send the claims file to BVA until all pending NODs and all pending claims have been decided.  There can be no appeal issues pending before the Regional Office at the time the claims file is sent to BVA; otherwise, BVA will issue a Remand instructing the Regional Office to issue an SOC on any pending appeals.

Additionally, if the veteran has requested a BVA travel board hearing or BVA Video conference hearing, the claims file remains physically at the Regional Office until the BVA hearing can be scheduled.

In the past, if any additional evidence was submitted which related to the issues under appeal, then the Regional Office had to review the additional evidence, and if the appeal continued, it had to issue a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) explaining why the additional evidence did not change the prior decision and give the Veteran 30 days to reply.  If yet more evidence was received, another SSOC was issued with another 30 day reply period.  There was no limit to the number of SSOCs which could be issued.  The appeal could not be certified to BVA until all of evidence in the claims file had been considered at the Regional Office level.

If an appeal was certified to BVA and additional evidence was subsequently received, the Regional Office had to either obtain a waiver of jurisdiction from the Veteran or his Representative, or the appeal had to be removed from certified status and another SSOC issued.  Following the 30 day reply period, if no additional evidence was added to the claims file, the appeal could be re-certified to BVA.

This is the stage where many delays occurred because many Veterans have multiple appeals pending in various stages of the appeals process.  Additionally, they will also have new claims pending in various stages of initial development.  Therefore, every time additional evidence was added to the claims file, the Regional Office Appeals Team had to review all of the appeals to determine if an SSOC was necessary.  If so, then any appeals already certified to BVA had to be removed from certified status, and the process continued to repeat itself until such time that all evidence in the claims file had been considered in a decision at the Regional Office level.  It was only then that we could physically transfer the file to BVA jurisdiction.

Effective February 2, 2013, Section 501 (Automatic waiver of agency of original jurisdiction review of new evidence) of Public Law 112-154 took effect.  This change in law established an automatic waiver of Regional Office (agency of original jurisdiction) review of evidence received after receipt of the substantive appeal.  The evidence is subject to initial review by BVA unless the appellant specifically requests, in writing, initial review by the Regional Office.

However, to date, we have received no guidance from Compensation Service and Pension and Fiduciary Service on how to implement this provision.

Therefore, at least at the Milwaukee Regional Office, we are still issuing SSOCs until we receive guidance to do otherwise.  I would also note that I personally have seen two separate BVA Remands dated from April 2013, which is after the change in law, in which a BVA judge noted there was evidence in the claims file received after the substantive appeal which the Regional Office had not considered.  Both Remands ordered the Regional Office to consider this evidence as part of the reasons for the Remand.

Hopefully, however, Section 501 of Public Law 112-154 will help us certify and transfer appeals to BVA in a much more timely manner.  It will also, hopefully, reduce the number of Remands caused by the submission of additional evidence without a waiver of review by the agency of original jurisdiction.

As you can see, the appeal process is complex and concerns remain.

As there is no requirement to use a standardized form to file an NOD or a Substantive appeal, it is easy to miss an appeal as it may be hidden on page 22 of a veteran’s handwritten statement.

Furthermore, it is not always clear if the Veteran is actually filing an appeal or not.  For example, use of the word “reconsider” may or may not mean disagreement.  We try to clarify intent with the Veteran or Representative, but even then, the Regional Office may consider the veteran’s statement to be a new claim and issue another Rating Decision, but then BVA considers the same statement to be a missed NOD and Remands the issue for the Regional Office to send an SOC.

VA’s primary focus over the past several years has, understandably, been to find ways to break the backlog of claims.

This has resulted in Journeyman RVSRs feeling constantly pressured to produce more and more decisions at a faster and faster rate, while, at the same time, having their jobs threatened if their accuracy drops in the process.  There are, unfortunately, experienced Journeyman RVSRs who have either quit or retired because they could not tolerate the pressure any longer.

This has resulted in trainee RVSRs (Rating Specialists) being released to single-signature rating before they are truly competent or comfortable in their duties''

 

 

................Buck

[RUREADY]

say what???

[RUREADY]

say what???

 

For the purpose of this topic, a request for reconsideration is a request from a claimant for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reconsider one of its decisions that has not yet become final (the one-year appeal period, which begins on the date the claimant was notified of the decision at issue, has not yet expired). A prescribed form is not required for a request for reconsideration.

A request for reconsideration differs from a claim to reopen in that the decision at issue in a claim to reopen has become final.

[USAF-Vet]

I was just on the phone with my DAV rep. when I came across this discussion. My Rep. filed another letter Oct. 13 regarding the work I did with my congressional aide to have the archives scan in all of my medical records (both active duty and dependent) to the VBMS system. My rep. notated CFR 38 and M21 points insisting the VSR made mistakes that caused my initial claim to be closed 3/15 denying me the right to a C&P exam because the VSR never requested my medical documentation from the Archive so the Veteran (me) had to do it for them.

The VARO has apparently acknowledged receipt of the request however, I guess I'll be in a holding pattern for quite awhile. Nobody seems to have any idea how long it'll take them to realize we know they screwed up, they screwed me over and now they have to do their job since I'm clearly not going to go quietly.