Rating Increase

[nanaeris]

This is from the remand from my BVA decision. Am I reading this right? In the underline section, is the BVA stating the VA did not pay me the whole retro when they increase my bilateral knee disabilities from 20% to 30%?

Left and right knee disabilities:

 

The Board observes that the Veterans also perfected an appeal as to his service-connected left and right knee. The July 2008 rating decision continued the 20% rating assigned to each knee. The Veteran filed an October 2008 notice of disagreement and a statement of the case was issued in June 2009. The Veteran perfected his appeal in July 2009. Thereafter, a January 2012 rating decision granted 30 % rating for each knee, effective November 24, 2009. Although the RO stated that this decision represented a complete grant of benefits sought on appeal, the Board observes that higher evaluation are possible under the rating Criteria. . See 38 C. F. R. & 4.71a, DCs 5010-5261. In addition, the grant of the 30% rating does not cover the full period that was on appeal. On the part a higher evaluation are possible under rating criteria, is the board stating the VA should have rated my knee higher? What is the normal time for a RO to complete a remand?

Thanks again everybody,

nanaeris

[Vync]

Regarding remands, it is hard to say how long they may take. Of course, the VA says claims are processed oldest first (except for hardship claims). It could be a couple of weeks to a couple of months depending on workload.

A different rating at some point might be possible. Here are a couple of possibilities:

1. Human error and/or low-ball rating: A lot of times the RO raters might not accurately transcribe the ROM degrees from your C&P exam. This actually happened to me. I NOD'd it and they corrected it. It might be possible that the BVA could have caught an error and are asking the RO to correct it.

2. Correcting EED: The part of the 30% not covering the entire period of appeal could mean that your rating might be backdated to the original claim date and the BVA caught this. For this to happen, you would have had to keep the appeal alive.

3. Tiered ratings: Sometimes the VA might provide tiered ratings, which basically means that your rating might have met different rating % criteria tiers for different time periods, maybe even higher than what you were awarded. For example: March - May: 20%, June - Oct: 30%, etc... This would be based on the evidence of record. Maybe the BVA found something. Only one way to find out. Asthma ratings are commonly tiered out because some of the criteria to meet 60% is considered temporary, so they bring you back in, re-examine you, drop you to 30%, until you again meet the 60% rating criteria - rinse, repeat, until it a static rating is obtained.

4. Another C&P: If it has been over a year, the VA might request a new C&P exam. The idea behind this is that it has been a while and they want a new exam so they can rate you based on your current state. This does not always happen. The BVA might have remanded your claim to the RO to get a new C&P or they might have simply slapped the RO on the wrist for being stupid and are requesting they go back through your records to ensure you are given the correct rating %'s over time (see 1, 2, and/or 3).

I'm not sure if this helps, but based on what you posted, I tried to assume some possible answers to help you make some sense of it.

 

 

[Berta]

I agree with what Vync posted.

I think he means the Fenderson type of rating.(staged ratings)

In any event,it seems the BVA is asking them to properly apply 38 C. F. R. & 4.71a, DCs 5010-5261 and to consider a proper EED.

[Vync]

I agree with what Vync posted.

I think he means the Fenderson type of rating.(staged ratings)

In any event,it seems the BVA is asking them to properly apply 38 C. F. R. & 4.71a, DCs 5010-5261 and to consider a proper EED.

Thanks Berta!