Time for C&P examiner to send results??

[Johhny_Drama]

Hello to all,

 

I had my C&P Examiners (4 exams and 3 doctors) for my 2 exams from 2 different doctors, they apparently sent in the exams and the VA has this. GREAT! but for the 2 other exams from the 1 Doctor did not send in anything as of 29nov. I had my exams on 20NOV at a VA Medical facility and the examiner said ok, I will make sure to send everything and said its all electronic. I know holidays was coming in 2 days but still, the others sent their reports in. He did not.

I had a sleep apnea and IBS issues. I made sure to bring copies of the sleep study and he found the information he needed off for his report however he did not keep anything. I made sure to upload them all to Ebenefits regardless so they have this. My question is do the examiners from your C&P exams have a deadline to send this in? This guy came off a real class a ******* but to each their own. I just expect him to take my report, type his report and submit. My one buddy who went 2 months ago had his c&p exams and within 3 weeks to maybe a month later his was resolved increased rating etc. Anyone have similar issues please let me know.

 

 

[GeekySquid]

1 hour ago, Berta said:

We need to hear from vets here who had a contracted C & P and how long it took them to get a copy of it-and if they got a copy before or after the VA decision came.

personally in Aug 2018 I had a review C&P for PTSD with QTC. When I found out about it in late july/early aug, I did a bunch of stuff including request my C-file. I found out because QTC contacted me...not a word from the VA.

The C-File came in under 8 weeks and in it was the C&P DBQ and the award letter w/decision. I had still not received the BBE when the C-File arrived. I got bumped to 100% and got that in my Oct 1 check and the BBE still had not arrived.

what is not in my C-file is the full packet nor the Doctors notes. I will be requesting them from the RO.

It is perplexing why the VA does not insert the Contracted C&P's into our Blue Button files and why they don't automatically include it with decision letter. Not being a conspiracy theorist, I don't think the reason is the VA wants to harm us or hide stuff or harm us. I am fairly sure that what they are hiding is their inefficiency and error rates.

IMO as a technologist and business man, the most efficient system design would make our records available electronically. I would even be in favor of requiring biometric confirmation when creating our accounts and to access sensitive records. The VA already has our prints why not put them to good use in securing our data?

I feel we should get meaningful status updates about our claims and health matters and have a clear trail of who / what doc saw us and if the are a contractor or employee. The info is there it is just a matter of connecting it to a usable presentation page.

[Buck52]

 Just my knowledge about QTC Exams and conversation with a QTC Examiner from my past experience. 

I believe a Veteran gets the information say from QTC as a packet as to when where and time of his C&P  Obviously the VA contacts these medical contractors to give these exams  QTC has there own way of contacting the Veteran  and are suppose to have instructions on all the information to cover a C&P Exam and what the exam is for   they are required to give the information as to travel pay vouchers to sign with how to contact their QTC Office and fax #'s and send in  and as for as a copy of the finished C&P Exam.

  The information QTC is legally to give the information on  as to how to request a copy  they are suppose to direct the Veteran back to his VAMC at the RELEASE OF MEDICAL RECORDS OFFICE  or for the veteran to contact the VA for a copy of the C&P Exam and state the Veteran will need to wait an additional 2 to 3 /4weeks for this process to be in effect.

  (The QTC Examiner contractor will forward this exam report back to the VA After the report is complete...so we never know how long it will take the examiner to file his/her report back to the VA?

,,Just my opinion and from what a QTC Examiner mention to me  they have a week to prepare this report after the exam & send it back to the VA.

I got a copy of my QTC Exam 4 weeks after the exam from the VBA Office.

Some QTC Examiners get their information from the VA week or two before the exam date to read about the Veterans claim on this issue and some don't ,they do it at the exam, this is why its good for a veteran to go to his exam well prepared and take his evidence that WILL BE SUBSTANTIAL  to his claim  in case the examiner don't read it or don't have it?

  And the evidence the veteran has  has to be documented by the VA as an official Dept of Veterans Affairs RECORD. or official M.D. Stationary if Private sector.

I had a QTC forensic PTSD Exam by a licenses Psychiatrist  &  luckily for me this Dr was a Veteran and we talked after the exam about the way these exams are conducted she was very friendly and informative.

Unless things have change in the last 5 years.??

 Note: This is just my story C&P Exams differ from Veteran to Veteran   what happens at one exam may or may not happen in another exam  this is just my experiences  to share.

[GeekySquid]

8 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

Unless things have change in the last 5 years.??

this is essentially the QTC experience i had with the Aug c&P.. the VES C&P I took in Nov is turning out to be a different situation as is the other QTC exam i had in Nov.

The VES doc did connect my SMC-K and that is good, but the whole DBQ is a mess. The VA award letter suggests I file for an additional condition, which I have filed an ITF for  since I don't want it bogged  down into my current deferred claim and upcoming NOD.

The latest QTC examiner does not like computers and refuses to have one in his office. He told me flat out that his wife does ALL his computer work at home even though she is not a nurse or employee.

It has been over 3 weeks and the report is not at the VA yet and when I called QTC they asked me to check back in a week, which I will do. Despite being for a different claim, his report has a bearing on the NOD I am filing for a previous claim so I am waiting for it before I file the NOD.

[Buck52]

I am not  so sure how adequate/ accurate the exam will be without having all evidence presented at the exam?

if I was you I would have ask to see the records this examiner had at the exam?

  if he /she don't like to use a computer...there should be records of evidence for him to read, now some examiners will read the evidence before the exam and just make notations if he needs a question to be answered from you.

I would contact the C&P VA Chief and let them know this examiner don't like computers ??

with everything now on VBSM  I would say you had an Inadequate Exam..especially if the examiner failed to read all the medical records to help substantiate your claim.

[GeekySquid]

1 minute ago, Buck52 said:

if I was you I would have ask to see the records this examiner had at the exam?

he had no printed copies of anything. In fact his first statement to me was to ask why I was there.

This was not some banal "get comfy with me" question, he was not sure why I was being examined by him and for what.

3 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

I would contact the C&P VA Chief and let them know this examiner don't like computers ??

AT this stage I am waiting for the C&P to be in the VBMS. Once I know the VA has it, I will then make the FOIA requests to get the full C&P packet including his notes and the DBQ, request for the exam, also the associated audiologist C&P, results, DBQ and notes, etc.

I will be bluntly honest when I say the following. If the results are what I expect, they are good for me. I am not likely to create another barrier for myself by complaining about this guy and having to redo (and the attendant waiting) the whole thing.

7 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

with everything now on VBSM  I would say you had an Inadequate Exam..especially if the examiner failed to read all the medical records to help substantiate your claim.

overall I would agree this was inadequate and this doctor probably should not be a qualified VA contractor. In a moral world where the VA was unerringly fair, accurate, reliable, and pro-veteran (that;s a hoot to contemplate) I would instantly report this guy and this exam.

However, we know the VA is not all those things and if the results are what I expect I am honestly not sure I will take that moral step.

does this make me a bad person? no it doesn't. it makes me a realist. I operate with my eyes wide open and all my faculties engaged. As I said the outcome of these C&P exams affect the NOD on another claim in a tangential way. I don't want to delay that NOD any longer than necessary.

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Further detail.

These particular C&P exams came about because I have been suffering what I called dizziness. It is actually Vertigo as I have come to discover. The cause of the vertigo has not yet been identified and the VHA docs have not yet made an official diagnosis of vertigo. That's what all the other VHA doc appointments I have coming up in Dec and Jan are about. Including an MRI.

The relation to the previous claim I am NODing is the hearing test portion. The results here will demonstrate yet another weakness in the claim I am NODing. Without going into details the c&P there is completely inaccurate and failed to look at all the hearing tests and other evidence in my military STR's.. The doc and the rater only looked at my first enlistment records and ignored all my other enlistments and related hearing tests.

One more thing about the VA decision process I don't know, is if the rater is also the same person who generates the decision letter. The reason this comes up is that in that same decision letter the author specifically notes all my other enlistments  and dates in support of my PTSD claim they rated at 70%. But in the part about the hearing loss they skip over all those years and only look at the first enlistment.

The C&P doc specifically said she only looked at those 4 years. The author used every other specific statement she wrote, including test findings, but did not include that specific piece of information in denying me service connection.

They admitted I have hearing loss, they just say it is not from the Service and they base that on only the first 4 years of my service. No one in the approval and or review process caught that and without that clear omission in the Letter there is nothing that would have been arguable from the veterans point of view. Frankly it looks like this oversight might have been intentional, at a minimum it demonstrates that neither the doc, or the rater actually looked at my entire service record.

The decision letter does say I can NOD anything I disagree with in the decision, but they have to tell me the basis for their decision and they failed to include relevant info on how they made the decision.

[Buck52]

The only thing about waiting to see how the exam went and he was favorable to you, this can come back and bite you in the old assperrello  if they ever do a complete review and find this C&P was indeed Inadequate...but this is certainly your choice .

I Wouldn't blame you for not complaining if the examiner was favorable to you ?its just a risky chance  because some other veterans comes along and complains and more and more veterans complain  the VA will usually go back and review some of these Veterans  C&P Exams from this Examiner?

and you might be one in the review  its just a risky chance I guess.

  usually if you feel the exam was inadequate chances of it being favorable is doubtful (sorry) jmo...  but only you know how the exam went, so now its just a waiting game on seeing what this examiner wrote in his report.?

The best time to complain about a bad C&P is right after the exam  so it will be of record  rather or not the exam was favorable later on or not...chances are the new C&P Exam will be favorable  b/c nothing actually changes.

unless you get another idiot doing your exam and can't read or don't read  its all risky.