Can Raters Call the Veteran?

[Buck52]

Question

Can a Rater call the Veteran if he/she has a question about your claim?

I realize they can call your VA Rep Attorney or VA Claims Agent.

but are they not Allowed to call the Veteran himself direct?

I know they can talk to the Veteran if a Veteran has a DRO Hearing and is present at the hearing, the rater talk to me at my DRO Hearing ask me some questions  ect,,,ect,,,  

So my question is why do they call the Veteran Reps and not the Veteran.?

reason I ask this is  some raters do call the veterans rep and the rep may not know the answer and tell the rater I'm am not sure at this time let me check with my vet and get back to you..well all this does is cause confusement ,what if the veteran rep forgets to ask his vet ? or just don't have a good Rep.

so  can the Veteran call the rater to answer the raters question.???

The Rater should just call the Veteran direct  save a lot  a lot of time.

I know when I talk to my Rating specialist  it helped my claim tremendously.

You can explain all about your C&P if you think you had a bad c &p exam  or any questions the Rater will ask you.   you may get another c&p ...Or the rater will take your word on what all happen  ect,,,ect,, either way its not a denial  its a second chance.  as long as you can back up what you say  your rater will take that into consideration.

[toddt]

During the course of my Mandamus petition the regional office rater did call me directly, so I would guess that the answer to your questions is Yes.  And like you say, it would surely be a more efficient way to answer their questions.

[Vync]

Yes! I have had this happen twice. Once for a regular claim and the second after my DRO review because they wanted to make sure nothing was missed. I thought that this was a very good practice because I had been in VA hamster wheel limbo for years.

[vetquest]

I believe this would be a good practice if all raters would call the veteran when they have a question.  In a perfect world....

[Vync]

42 minutes ago, vetquest said:

I believe this would be a good practice if all raters would call the veteran when they have a question.  In a perfect world....

I agree completely!

I was actually shocked the first time it happened. I was not expecting that at all. I guess some VA offices place a greater value on quality in their quality review of claims before mailing them out.

[seminoles]

I have had the rater call me and it was for something in my favor.

[broncovet]

While, yes, he can call the Veteran, but it rarely happens.  VA prefers if you have to spend the next 5 years appealing, rather than fix the problem with a 5 minute phone call.