Who the Heck is the C&P Service and Now What?

[Vinsky54]

My prior topic, "Seeking Advice on my CUE," brought me a wealth of information from some very informed people. I remain grateful. But I have been doing more and more research based on what I learned from them and just ran across this:

j.  Approval of Ratings Prepared Under 38 CFR 3.105(a)

All rating decisions prepared by RVSRs under 38 CFR 3.105(a) require the approval of the VSCM or designee at the Coach level or higher.  Ratings prepared by DROs would require the approval of the VSCM or Assistant VSCM if they would effect   ·   severance of service connection, or ·   a reduction in evaluation of an SC disability(ies).   Exception:  Approval of the VSCM or designee is not necessary if the rating is the result of a Board of Veterans’ Appeals or U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decision.   Important:  A rating decision must be reviewed and approved by the Compensation and Pension (C&P) Service prior to promulgation if the decision ·   initially grants service connection with an effective date retroactive eight or more years, and/or ·   results in a lump-sum payment of $250,000 or more.  (See M21-1MR, Part III, Subpart vi, 1.A.5 (TBD) or Fast Letter 07-19.)      Reference:  For more information on CUEs involving rating issues, see M21-1MR, Part I, 5.C.13.f.

 

The CUE in my case is obvious. It took the help of an attorney who does medical insurance claims to help me read my Service Medical Record, but the denial based upon "no evidence of complaint, treatment or diagnosis" is just plain wrong. So is the conclusion that there is no service connection, as it is also in the record. Problem is, VA repoened my 2002 claim, denied it based upon "no new evidence" and that led to the NOD.

Anyway, as I read this, even if the DRO acknowledges the CUE, my claim then has to go to this C&P Service. Who are these people and how many more years can I anticipate waiting? Anyone have any experience with the C&P Service?

Thank you.  Vinsky

[TexasMarine]

"Who are these people and how many more years can I anticipate waiting? Anyone have any experience with the C&P Service? "

All I can say is that I fall into the same category.  Over 11 years retro.  And I'm still waiting.

Case went to the CAVC twice, and arrived back at the BVA for action in 2/15.  Then it went to the C&P service, which is part of the Appeals Management Center (AMC), in Oct with a Dec 5th suspense date. 

Did I mention that I'm still waiting.

 

 

[Gastone]

As I set here, gotta say I've never heard of the C & P Service. Compensation & Pension "C & P" exams are requested by Rating Dept, DRO's, BVA or Remanded back to the RO by the BVA or CAVC.

The C & P Dr's are either VA employees or Contract Drs. They review your VA C-File Med Records which should include bot VA & non VA Medical DX's for whatever conditions your claiming as Service Connected.

The VA Rating Dept or higher Authority (BVA) specifically requests the the C & P Dr complete a VA DBQ for your claimed condition. The C & P Dr has no further involvement with the Award or Denial process.

Just went back and reread Vin's post, sorry about that, the C & P Service referred to in his post, is your VARO Comp & Pension Dept. We refer to it as simply the VA Rating Dept. It's made up of Raters, Sr Raters, DRO's and a large number of support personnel. At the very top is the Director and his staff.

Semper Fi

[FormerMember]

Compensation and Pension Service is run by Tom Murphy out of VACO. They make determinations on large settlements and also on extraschedular awards. CPS is not part of the Appeals Management Center. Think of the AMC as the BVA's own private regional office who can write up decisions and SSOCs so they don't have to wait for a one year remand back to your RO. When you sign a waiver of review, this allows the AMC to do a quick fix and send it back to the VLJ for a final decision pronto. At least that's how it's supposed to work. Recently, everything went into the automatic waiver of review in an attempt to reduce the BVA backlog. 

I spoke with VLJ Brad Hennings at the Las Vegas NOVA Hugfest and he tells me they've eliminated Laura Eskinazi's rocket docket program as well as the "Acting" VLJ program. Seems it took too many staff attorneys away from their regular duties to VLJs in order to do a few of their own. Turns out it also slowed things down instead of the opposite. Now they are biting the bullet and hiring more VLJs as they should have when VBMS was born.

CPS has been around since 61. It was a major checkpoint/obstacle on the road to TDIU for decades. Now they try to "control awards" for $ in Fenderson staged ratings after a big CUE screwup. Any request for extraschedular automatically  has to cross Murph's desk and he doesn't grant very many. He's a nice guy, 6'3", weighs as much as a buffalo and is as bald as Kojak.He smiles a lot and pretends to be pro-Vet but all VA honchos do that when they're denying you.

[TexasMarine]

AskNod, I stand corrected.

I was using the term "C&P Services", as I found it on the VA.gov website, associated with the BVA.

I was told by someone on my legal team that that is where my case was held up.

Ebennies said my case was "Administrative Case Processing" (from the BVA), so, I summed it all up, and supposed (apparently inaccurately) that the file was at the AMC.

My bad.  Thanks for correcting the record.

Texas Marine

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by TexasMarine
spelling correction

[Vinsky54]

Thanks for the responses TexasMarine & Gastone. AskNod: Again you come to my aid. Thank you so very much! (Though I have to admit, you sent me to Google a few times to "translate" the acronyms.) I now have the sense that I may be waiting quite a while longer for a decision. If I am reading you correctly, should the DRO determine that there was a CUE in my original decision of 2002, then it is going to kick my NOD into a chain that involves the VSCM (Waco), a possible review by the AMC, then on to Mr. Murphy? Sounds like a whole bunch of people getting involved to find a way to cut their losses.Based on the research I have done since "talking" to you and Berta, my "by-the-book" rating would be 50% (46 rounded up if I am reading the Schedule of Ratings correctly. Under section 4.110, the several factors leading up to the dumping syndrome cannot be combined with the others. It says: "Ratings under diagnostic codes 7301 to 7329, inclusive, 7331, 7342, and 7345 to 7348 inclusive will not be combined with each other. A single evaluation will be assigned under the diagnostic code which reflects the predominant disability picture, with elevation to the next higher evaluation where the severity of the overall disability warrants such elevation." So the bleeding ulcer that damn near killed me and the emergency surgery to stop the bleeding and prevent new ulcers counts for zero. That in spite of the diagnosis of an internist that under code 7348, I meet the criteria for a 30% rating for the results of the surgery alone. Under code 7308, dumping syndrome, I only rate at 40% percent instead of 60% because I have not consistently lost weight for 39 years. Anyone want to explain how you do that?)

Anyway, if a decision were reached today, that would mean 12 years, 4 months of back benefits were due. I am assuming every effort will be made to find a way to deny that much of a back payment.

 

Thanks again everyone. This forum has been a real blessing.

[jfrei]

I don't know about anyone else but I just had three C&P exams that were outsourced to a company called QTC owned by Lockheed Martin. The doctor says the VA requests them to speed up the process. Don't know if this might be the team or what.