Higher Level Review works

[deedub75]

53 minutes ago, Hucast21 said:

Your file will be read by a rater where your original claim was filed at your RO.

Did they go back to doing it this way?  I worked at VA RO from 2013 to 2015. Before I left they were in the process of having claims in a national queue where claims would be worked based on case load of the ROs. If an RO had more capacity then claims would be move from an RO that had less capacity. We were told that claims would no longer be worked based on the state where the veteran lived since all records would be electronic. 
 

 

[Hucast21]

2 minutes ago, deedub75 said:

Did they go back to doing it this way?  I worked at VA RO from 2013 to 2015. Before I left they were in the process of having claims in a national queue where claims would be worked based on case load of the ROs. If an RO had more capacity then claims would be move from an RO that had less capacity. We were told that claims would no longer be worked based on the state where the veteran lived since all records would be electronic. 
 

 

I could be wrong but I originally filed my claim in Florida in 2018 and was denied twice by St. Petersburg RO.

Since Florida is a popular state for veterans, if what you say is true, than my claim should have went somewhere else besides St. Petersburg in my opinion.

[GBArmy]

I believe that when you put in for a HLR, it is put in a National work que and there are 3 different sites that they can go to. One is Seattle, and I believe the other two are St. Louis and someplace in the SE, maybe Atlanta or St. Pete. I called Peggy and and asked them where mine was and they told me (Seattle.) I'm not sure how it would work if your original claim went to the same RO as one of these 3, but it goes to a higher ranking evaluator so it shouldn't make a difference in theory. But as usual, they just give you the standard line that the average turn around is currently 125 days.

[Buck52]

I agree with GB Army...but also remember in the HLR we can't submit any new evidence that may develop later that would help your claim.

[Buck52]

Also when a R.O. IS Under staffed  or logged down with Claims  they send out your claim to other R.O'S Across the country that can get to it sooner.

my R.O. is Waco Tx  They were logged down and way behind in the claims processing  so they sent my claim to Salt Lake City Utah  Regional Office.This is nothing new  they do it all the time...I never knew this until I got my BBE in the mail from Salt Lake City. 

[deedub75]

59 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

Also when a R.O. IS Under staffed  or logged down with Claims  they send out your claim to other R.O'S Across the country that can get to it sooner.

my R.O. is Waco Tx  They were logged down and way behind in the claims processing  so they sent my claim to Salt Lake City Utah  Regional Office.This is nothing new  they do it all the time...I never knew this until I got my BBE in the mail from Salt Lake City. 

This is how it was done when I worked for the VA from 2013 to 2015.  Everything is a national queue now that all records are electronic.  I filed a couple of HLRs in 2019 and all of the correspondence came from the Evidence Intake Center in Janesville, WI.  Any evidence I had to send in had to be sent there as well or faxed in.  I filed a supplemental claim in February and I have no idea where the claim was completed because they don't put that info on them anymore.