VA Regional Office Claims Question

[jm0365]

I filed a claim for TDIU 2/14/23. Already have combined rating of 80% (70/30/10). Initially the VSO told me that it wouldn't be too long of a process. Went to PFD 3/22/23. I spoke with my VSO again on Friday and he said to expect a decision in a few days. My last claim took 5-6 months, but the C&P examiner took over 8 weeks to submit the exam.

I see stories on here of people in PFD for 3-4 months. Is a lot of this based on the VA Regional Office that is processing the claim or is it based on the claim itself?

[brokensoldier244th]

On 3/28/2023 at 8:42 AM, broncovet said:

You posted:

Unfortunaly, if this is the doctors opinion, VA does not like this.  The voc rehab specialist can opine if you are able to be retrained or not, but the doctor normally does not do voc rehabilition, and the voc rehab guys dont practice medicine.  I hope it works for you, and it may.  

Medical opinions from private doctors that aren't occupational therapists are supposed to focus on the disabilties' affect on ADL (activities of daily living) and on how they would affect a veteran in an occupational environment, but not making a direct opinion on employability. They can say what activities the veteran can or cannot do, and with what level of difficulty physically or cognitively, but they can't make a direct opinion unless they have something in their CV or practice that makes they qualified to make an occupational opinion. 

[jm0365]

8 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:

Medical opinions from private doctors that aren't occupational therapists are supposed to focus on the disabilties' affect on ADL (activities of daily living) and on how they would affect a veteran in an occupational environment, but not making a direct opinion on employability. They can say what activities the veteran can or cannot do, and with what level of difficulty physically or cognitively, but they can't make a direct opinion unless they have something in their CV or practice that makes they qualified to make an occupational opinion. 

Fair enough. The claim is in PFD and they never requested a Vocational Specialist. My doctor described everything in detail pretty specifically and thoroughly. One C&P examiner marked “total” for that condition and the other marked that the second condition has worsened.

There’s not a lot else that I can do. To be fair to myself the original question had nothing to do with what documents or evidence I needed. I was simply asking if my RO made a difference in how fast or slow my claim will get through PFD.