Pending HLR, Pending Supp Claim, Closed Supp Claim. Should I call or file IRIS

[JKWilliamsSr]

I am trying to decide if I should call the white house line of file an IRIS claim myself.   I am leaning towards filing the IRIS claim because my understanding is that is what happens when you call the white house line anyway.  So here are where my claims stand.

1.  In September my supplemental for Sleep Apnea and 1 other was closed.   I still have not received a letter or any other type of notification about this other than it is what shows on va.gov.   I am certain they are required to send me notification and by not doing so is a clear violation of 38 CFR 3.103

2. The remaining claims on that supplemental claim are still pending.  I have called them twice already on this for the status.  This is the exam where I had the bad C&P exam but there still should have been some kind of movement.  I had the C&P exam on November 5th and 30 days later I called to request the status and was told they were waiting for exam results.  Called them out on that and they said it was because of backlog.  I called a couple weeks later and they were not gave me any additional information.  Just stated it was still pending.    I personally believe this exam should be in the hands of a rater because it is not an appeal but reopened claims with new evidence.  Unlike new claims or increases I cannot request a decision because I do not have additional evidence like you can on ebenefits.

3. I also have an HLR pending for denials I received an October.   Right now the status is "A senior rater is taking a new look at your case".  It has been sitting in that phase for the last 3 weeks and since no evidence  can be submitted it should not take a rater this long to be looking at this.  I could be wrong but I have seen way too many HLR's being completed within a week or so of a senior rater looking at it.   Maybe it is a good sign maybe not.

Here is what I think is happening.  I have several different types of claims going and I think it is just being swept away.   The last time I called I asked about both my HLR and Supplemental claim and the person I spoke to was clueless and could not give me any information because in my opinion they did not know what the hell they were doing.  I think with an IRIS complaint I can detail all of my concerns and have it listed where it cannot be ignored.  Sure it may not make a difference but it will be on record and can be used in my appeal.

[Guest]

Take all of your evidence to the VAMC Release of Information Office and have them copy them to your medical records.  Make sure they get in your records before your new C & P exam.

[Buck52]

If it has not done it yet  he needs to sign a release of medical records from the private sector  so the VA Can get his private records  but he needs to apply for that.  its called share your OUTSIDE  records with the VA

You can do that on MyhealthEvet

[JKWilliamsSr]

1 hour ago, pete992 said:

Take all of your evidence to the VAMC Release of Information Office and have them copy them to your medical records.  Make sure they get in your records before your new C & P exam.

All the necessary is already uploaded.  Initially I filed a claim and requested a reopen of previously denied claims.  I uploaded all of the evidence then.  They close all of the reopens because they had to be filed as supplementals.  Something I was not aware of.  I filed the supplemental claims and faxed in all the necessary evidence...again.  So it is listed twice.  I can actually view all of the documents in ebenefits.  I am going attach a list of the evidence I submitted. 

1 hour ago, Buck52 said:

If it has not done it yet  he needs to sign a release of medical records from the private sector  so the VA Can get his private records  but he needs to apply for that.  its called share your OUTSIDE  records with the VA

I have done this as well.  However, I did not trust the VA to actually make any requests so I uploaded all necessary private records as well when I filed my claim.  Probably one of the main reasons I got 30% for my asthma.  They did not make any requests but the evidence was already there. 

[Vync]

The whole "right form" supplemental part was frustrating for me, too. Looks like you are on the right track, holding the VA accountable.

[Buck52]

I understand,

the main problem with these type C&P Examiners is they obvious don't like to read,

so I always let veterans know  take the evidence that gets right to the point  highlight the areas  you feel they need to read   ,,,because they don't like to read long drawn out records before the crucial parts of your evidence shows up   most of the time they don't read that for   so if you have say 12 pages of evidence  find the parts that is crucial to your claim  the parts that get to the claim

If we make it eazy for these  examiners maybe we will have better success.

Now days its mostly read off the computer  so you need to make sure VA has all your evidence before the C&P Exam.

And these examiners get this information about a week before the exam  so they have time to read and re read about your condition before the exam.  its obvious some don't.

[JKWilliamsSr]

8 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

so I always let veterans know  take the evidence that gets right to the point  highlight the areas  you feel they need to read   ,,,because they don't like to read long drawn out records before the crucial parts of your evidence shows up   most of the time they don't read that for   so if you have say 12 pages of evidence  find the parts that is crucial to your claim  the parts that get to the claim

This is what I am doing as we speak.  I am creating a separate folder for every possible Ortho issue I may have.  I am putting all the necessary evidence in each folder and highlighting the information necessary for the claim itself.  That means I am printing out my IME report 4 times and putting it in 4 separate folders with the pertaining nexus highlighted.  I am submitting all the SMR's in relation to the disability and highlighting the diagnosis and part of the body it is in reference to.   

I am going to give this to the C&P Examiner and make it dummy proof.