Do attorneys have certain visibility or knowledge to claim activity that I do not see in eBenifits & VA.gov?

[MKAH]

A few days ago, my attorney sent me this email on a PTSD claim I filed back in 2016 and have appealed to the BVA.  After getting this email, I checked eBenifits & VA.gov and they still read, "waiting to be sent to a law judge".

"I am reaching out to give an update on your case. We are currently pending a Rating Decision in response to the Board Appeal filed 05/18/21. If you have received any recent VA correspondence, please be sure to inform our office"

Thank You

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by MKAH

[ArNG11]

Information is power. Power over the VA.  Another way the VA tries to get the upper hand.  Imagine the possibilities of seeing everything in your file and be able to rebuttal all of the VA misdoings in your claim process.  Makes me wonder all too much.

[ArNG11]

In my claims when I did have an attorney,  there were a few items that were not in my CFILE copy he had access to.  Not sure whether it was just a lapse in date intake or what.  But just I have experience before its best to get multiple access points to your records and compare.  Your CFILE, your service records, VA medical records, and private medical records.  If the information has been requested to be shared between all these they should coincide with each other eventually without a great deal of lag, but alas Murphys law.  

[brokensoldier244th]

There may be a time lag but also, the system, if you don't title your documents when you save them before uploading just assigns a default "correspondence" label. That can mean anything- random updates from examiner facilities trying to schedule you, 4192s returned from employers, STRs that aren't labeled correctly when sent by the services (sometimes they send a giant PDF- I like those, others, however, scan each page and upload it......WTF?) - all sorts of stuff. It's also not in any order except by date received when the system puts it into your Efolder. We (VSRs) change the dates on claims (back date them to the postage date- if we can read it on the scanned envelope) to make sure they coincide with when they came in, not when the system processed them because it may be a few days between when its received at Janesville and when its actually scanned in. 

 

also, Ive requested service records and even STRs more than once on a veteran that comes over my desk that ive worked on before, even if its a subsequent claim- because ive found that DPRIS records (your 201 file, basically) magically updates and I find new stuff in there that wasn't there before. Same with STR's. With VAMC I just download the whole mess from whatever the last date was that it was downloaded and then convert it to PDF and label it with the VAMC and date range. Not every VSR does it this way. It really sucks when someone downloads a hundred pages of VAMC records into your file and then just labels it "clinical records" with no date range, or indication of what VAMC it came from- because some of you have several.

 

[ArNG11]

13 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:

There may be a time lag but also, the system, if you don't title your documents when you save them before uploading just assigns a default "correspondence" label. That can mean anything- random updates from examiner facilities trying to schedule you, 4192s returned from employers, STRs that aren't labeled correctly when sent by the services (sometimes they send a giant PDF- I like those, others, however, scan each page and upload it......WTF?) - all sorts of stuff. It's also not in any order except by date received when the system puts it into your Efolder. We (VSRs) change the dates on claims (back date them to the postage date- if we can read it on the scanned envelope) to make sure they coincide with when they came in, not when the system processed them because it may be a few days between when its received at Janesville and when its actually scanned in. 

 

also, Ive requested service records and even STRs more than once on a veteran that comes over my desk that ive worked on before, even if its a subsequent claim- because ive found that DPRIS records (your 201 file, basically) magically updates and I find new stuff in there that wasn't there before. Same with STR's. With VAMC I just download the whole mess from whatever the last date was that it was downloaded and then convert it to PDF and label it with the VAMC and date range. Not every VSR does it this way. It really sucks when someone downloads a hundred pages of VAMC records into your file and then just labels it "clinical records" with no date range, or indication of what VAMC it came from- because some of you have several.

 

Good to know.  Great info.  It is hard to believe that this day an age things are more streamlined with the use of electronic data, then again not surprising.  My recent hearing verified a few records that were not the most current.  Imagine that, that is why it is imperative that you confirm the most recent evidence was used to adjudicate the claim.  

[brokensoldier244th]

Its a production/quality error if we don't gather everything we can find- at the time- if our claim(s) that get worked get scooped up by QMS they go through it with a comb- they do the raters, too. They only do so many per each of us a month though. There is no way they could get all of them. There are things continuously coming in, though. Thats why we send out those 5103s with the checkbox at the bottom that says "im done sending stuff in....". Otherwise at some point after exams are completed and opinions returned, we check VAMC one more time and download/upload that, and send to rating. We can't keep them open forever. 

Anyway- if we don't locate or get a negative response from federal records holders- whether NPRC, VAMC, individual reserve/guard units, MTFs- its a duty to assist error on our part and 1 we lose a shit ton of production points, and 2 we have to correct it- it comes back to US (me, for example) with the regs attached and comments that vary from helpful to  "fix it". 

 

The newer stuff IS electronic and comes to us that way, just in a piss poor organization, usually, whether its the Services, NPRC, or whatever you uploaded last week. Thats why I always tell 'you guys' to put a brief table of contents or summary, and page numbers, or, that AND highlight or underline the salient points you want us to see. I use CTRL-F a lot on PDFs but not all of them scan in readable like that so I have to eyeball hundreds of pages. That's my job, don't weep for me. BUT if you page number or underline or highlight the high points I can find them a heck of a lot faster when im mouse spinning that scroll wheel. I used to do my claims like mini research papers- brief TOC or abstract on the first page, a statement of what I was contending, and page numbers, or dates, or whatever. I could see my VAMC stuff online (I got out in 2002) and I hand carried my military STRs out on a thumbdrive- spent about 3 pass weekends scanning or printing, and a lot of burger king money on a couple of the record clerks at Kenner clinic LOL. I know that isn't possible with a lot of you older guys. 

 

But you YOUNG guys.....well.......Hear, heed, tell your friends that are still in. Thumbdrives are cheap and most everyone has a laptop. Make a friend or 4 in in S1 and Release of Info. It will make their lives a lot easier. Take advantage of IDES and get all that crap done Before and While you medboard or ETS. 

Edited January 8, 2022 by brokensoldier244th

[Rivet62]

On 1/7/2022 at 8:00 PM, brokensoldier244th said:

The newer stuff IS electronic and comes to us that way, just in a piss poor organization, usually, whether its the Services, NPRC, or whatever you uploaded last week. Thats why I always tell 'you guys' to put a brief table of contents or summary, and page numbers, or, that AND highlight or underline the salient points you want us to see. I use CTRL-F a lot on PDFs but not all of them scan in readable like that so I have to eyeball hundreds of pages. That's my job, don't weep for me. BUT if you page number or underline or highlight the high points I can find them a heck of a lot faster when im mouse spinning that scroll wheel. I used to do my claims like mini research papers- brief TOC or abstract on the first page, a statement of what I was contending, and page numbers, or dates, or whatever.

Holy cow. Nuggets of gold here. I certainly will follow these suggestions. I'll be sure that Control-F works, too. This might make the difference in years of ongoing claims.