Hi,
Need advice..

I have two files w/ VA @ the moment:
1. NOD for "Hypertension"(from AO long term effect). I was approved 40% SC for "DMII"
2. I also have an Evaluation of service connected disability rating for "Tinnitus" & "Sleep Apnea"

I was informed by VARO service rep. that is was okay to submit both claims. Been 3 months now.

Questions:
>Does NOD have priority over Eval(reopening of my file for SC disability rating)? Called in last week, all they said was both claims are entered in their system.
>How can I acquire a more detailed information or status of my claims?

Thanks in advance!

I dont know what RO you are at but the Buffalo VARO does not read NODs until a year has passed upon their receipt.

Your HBP must be medically associated directly to your diabetes. Otherwise VA will say it is "essential HBP"and not attributable to DMII.

Do you have any atherosclerotic involvement to your arteries in your brain or heart?

I hope not but this too is evidence of HBP due to DMII- as the association of diabetes to atherosclerosis ois medically sound.

If you are still within the NOD year period and can obtain a medical statement that associates your DMII directly with your HBP-as the etiology of the DMII- you could send it to the VA asking them to reconsider that prior decision that denied the HBO as service connected and this might be a little faster than waiting for them to read the NOD.

There is info at hadit involving filing a Reconsideration Request.
I filed one some months ago that they say they are actively working on.My NOD was also filed within the year NOD period.

To find out the status of your claim,you can call 1-800-827-1000 or you can email va at https://iris.va.gov/
mobie

I was surprised to read and learn that " I dont know what RO you are at but the Buffalo VARO does not read NODs until a year has passed upon their receipt." (quotation by Berta)

How do they justify just sitting on a NOD for that long?

Manitou Sprgs

Normal processing on claims at most RO's is completion of all new/other claims prior to conducting any work on appeal actions. Most RO's are currently at a 12-18 month time line on any claims actions. If yours has only been in the system for 3 mos you have a ways to go. Sit back relax and get on with your life. One day you will get something in the mail. At that point you can began to fool with the claims again. Trying to do anything else will run you crazy.

Don't forget that when a NOD sits for a long time you still have to get the Form 9 in before a year is up. May be another VA trick?

Manitou wrote:

"I was surprised to read and learn that " I dont know what RO you are at but the Buffalo VARO does not read NODs until a year has passed upon their receipt." (quotation by Berta"

The NOD is tagged and color coordinated by month.It isnt that they "wait" a year to read it-it is that they know when it has been sitting there for a year already and then they read it.

You might be lucky enough to have them read your NOD sooner than that.I assume you are at a different VARO.

If you did not receive a legal VCAA letter telling you specifically what you need to send them as evidence- and if you did not receive an Election Notice picking one box of two,signing, copying for your records and then sending this Election notion back to the VA your claim might well be in limbo for years.

Like the thousands of claims at the BVA remanded after years, due to VCAA notice violations.

A legal VCAA letter has to be sent -that fully complies with the VCAA laws,to include Pelegrino and the Dingess Hartman cases prior to any denial of a claim.

If the veteran provides to VARO the evidence requested in the VCAA letter and the signed election form-those claims can go faster than the norm-sometimes-


Welcome aboard and welcome to the world of the Veterans Administration-where your claim could sit for months or even years before a proper resolve-as many here know.

I feel I've just gone down the rabbit hole (i.e., VA world).

Thanks!

I belonged to Oakland, CA. VARO(Northern California). They seemed to be okay. In no rush. Will call in every 3 mos for status. I work as an IT professional for 3 decades now. Still having fun, and keeping me busy!!
Thanks for all the feedback & hints..

BTW, some of you folks going to DC for the 11/10th Vietnam War-Wall memorial celeb?

http://www.vva.org/25thEvent/event_info.htm

Bob,

Since the VA Form 9 has a positive time requirement for submission and you didn't say what the date was for the Decision you were sending in the NOD for, I would make sure that by calling every 3 months you don't miss your window of opportunity to perfect your appeal by sending in the VA Form 9 w/in the required time frame of them sending out your SOC and VA Form 9.

Per page 910 in the Veteran's Benefit Manual: A Substative Appeal (the VA Form 9) "must be filed within 60 days of mailing of the SOC or within the remainder of the one-year period from the date of mailing of notice of Decision by the RO , whichever period ends later."

Now, if you have lots of time before that one year period ends and you only want to call every three months until closer to that time, no problem. But if you are close or past that one year window after the Decision, then the 3 month interval is dangerous.

My concern for you is that by only calling every 3 months, if the VA did send your SOC and a Form 9 in the mail to you and it got lost in the mail and you didn't know they had sent it, your deadline could pass during the 3 month interim between your phone calls.

I sent in my NOD last week for a Decision dated early this year and my DAV rep still told me to call in every 30 days. They are in the actual VA building so at least you have some eyes and ears in the building when you use the DAV at the VARO. There may be other service organizations at the VARO, I just happen to use the DAV.

This may be redundant information for you but I just wanted to post it in case you (and others - I ghosted the site reading this forum long before I ever posted) were not aware of the positive time requirement in perfecting your appeal on the Form 9.

Good luck and keep us posted,
TS

Hi TS,

When I handed my NOD to the VARO representative 3 months ago, he copied the 1st page of my NOD letter and stamped it with the date received. Just wanted to make sure I am in same page w/ you. I am in the understanding that I will wait for VA to send me some type of notification re: my NOD case, right?
> Now if they agree, they will follow up with SOC & VA form 9, right?
> What if they deny again my HPT NOD? What's my next move? BTW, my HPT was detected earlier before my DMII. I am still scratching my head on this one why denied originally..

Thanks in advance for getting back..

Bob,

This is the order of march that my DAV rep said would happen after he turned in my NOD last week:

1. In a couple of weeks I should get a letter from the VA verifying that they got my NOD and in this letter would be a DRO/BVA election letter that I should send in ASAP and elect DRO review (even though I put that in my NOD I still need to send them their DRO/BVA election form back to them - makes you wonder if they even read what you send). If you don't send in the DRO election letter then they assume you want to go the BVA route. Now, whether you go DRO or BVA is up to you. I have read comments for and against each course of action but prefer the local DRO myself.

2. After that, he (my DAV rep) would be able to contact the DRO and have an informal conference with them.

3. The DRO could decide everything in my favor (one can hope), write a Decision and it's a done deal.

4. OR, the DRO could decide part or none of my NOD and if so, they will send me a Statement of Case (SOC) with a Form 9 attached that I have to sign and return to the VA w/in 60 days or by the end of my appeal period (1 year from the date of the Decision I am appealing). Sending in the Form 9 is called "perfecting your appeal" and it HAS to be done within the timeline or your NOD dies.

It is because of this postive time requirement and not knowing the date of the Decision that you were appealing that I was concerned about you only calling every 3 months. I don't want you to miss the window of opportunity to perfect your NOD if it is coming up on one year since the Decision you are appealing.

As this is all theory for me since I haven't gone through a NOD and gotten an SOC or Form 9 before, perhaps someone with more actual experience and understanding of the regs will chime in.

As for why the VA does what it does with claims - I am as flabbergasted as you are on that one. There'd be no need for hadit if the VA did what they were supposed to do in the first place - no need for hadit, no years long waits for claims to be improperly rated, no backlog of claims, etc.

I'm a psych claim so know nothing about DMII but there are others here who do and can help you.

Good luck and keep us posted on everything.

TS

TS,

Really appreciate your time for the explanation. Looks like we both have a NOD in progress. Definitely will keep you & the forum posted..

To recap my current claims w/ VARO:
1.NOD=> Hypertension (taking 3 medications in controlling it)
2.Case file re-opening=> Tinnitus & Sleep Apnea

BTW, this hadit.com forum has been been very informative for me, and I recently shared with two other Vietnam vets who has similar long term effects(illness) from AO exposure. I really felt good guiding them, and I suggested that they start with their local VSO rep. for faster turnaround. I did mine on my own, and it took longer.

Again, thank you and GOD bless!