Introduction
“We’re here today to try and inform as many veterans as we can. We’re here with Dr. Bash. Welcome, radio land, TV land, and YouTube viewers and listeners. This is Dr. Craig Bash. I’ve been doing Veterans Medical Opinions for 30 years, and I have dozens and dozens of these radio shows, which we’re going to publish on this YouTube channel, numbered one to whatever. So thank you for listening, and here we go.
Welcome
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another edition of the Basser Hour. Today is Tuesday, the 12th day of March 2019. This year is going by like a rocket on rails. Today, my co-host is Mr. Gerald Cook, and we have a very special guest. His name is Dr. Bash. Many veterans know Dr. Bash. He’s also the Veterans Medical Advisor. He does independent medical opinions and evaluations for veterans’ claims, and he’s been doing it for a very long time. He’s very good at it. How are you doing today, Dr. Bash?
Discussion on VA Claims
I’m good, I’m good. We were going to discuss something on this show. We were going to discuss your latest Bash Bulletin, I guess it was, “How to Survive a Claim in 2019.”
Yeah, 2019. Well, there are new rules that came out. You know, they’re not letting veterans have much in the way of adding new evidence, trying to cut back on the evidence. We covered some of that last week discussing that.
Yeah, there’s a lot of new factors involved. You know, it depends on which road you choose to appeal. When you get denied, you can choose all these different avenues to appeal now, and one of them actually cuts off your adding new evidence. So that’s something the veteran needs to really look at and understand because if you get into this new appeal system and select it and you can’t add evidence, you must go ahead and jump because you’re done.
Yep, that’s called the higher level review lane, right?
Yeah, I think it is. Higher level review, no new evidence allowed.
Impact on Veterans
Yeah, that could really hurt a veteran because so many times you don’t get a hold of some of this evidence until the last minute.
Yeah, and that’s not good.
That’s right, because you have to have extra testing maybe, or maybe have a specialist look at it, or maybe the medical knowledge changes in the meantime, and you have new medical knowledge to help you.
That’s true, very true. That’s a tough one. I don’t see how one can survive that. That would put a hurt on an awful lot of veterans. Surely, some veterans might take it because it’s a faster lane.
Yeah, I can see that. I mean, I know some VOs that went through the RAMP process and their appeals. I know a couple of them that actually were successful in the process because both of them got 10% for ratings that should have been 60%. So, you know, it’s kind of like trying to knock bowling pins down with a tennis ball, right? Like you get a fast review but a minimum rating.
Yeah, so then the veteran’s got to appeal that decision, and you know, you got to fight to get your correct percentage, and it’s just a headache. You know, if you go through the traditional appeal, or they call it the legacy appeal process now, it’s the same old process. The appeals backlog was several thousand, several hundred thousand. I don’t know exactly what it is today. I’d like to get some accurate numbers, but sometimes we don’t have access to the information to back up the actual backlog itself.
Understanding the Appeal Process
So, at the DVA, right?
The DVA, still two years there, right?
Yeah, a two-year wait.
Yeah, you know, it used not to be that way, but somebody in DC decided they were going to go ahead and put an emphasis on getting all these claims done to reduce the actual claims backlog. Well, they actually got the claims backlog reduced, but they did it at the expense of the BBA because the backlog from claims just transferred from the VA Regional Office to the BBA. Most of the claims are just, I guess, auto-denial, I guess is what we call it.
Yeah, BBA, that next level. BBA, you’re supposed to be able to have some new evidence there again. So that higher level review lane, no evidence at first. Then you wait a few years, and you might be able to get some evidence in there and then have a decision.
Yeah, and the other pathway is that one called the supplemental claim lane, right? Something like that?
Yeah, something like that.
Advice for Veterans
So those are extra reviews where you can put new evidence in. They want to have something that’s pertinent or relevant. You know, new evidence has to be relevant.
Oh yeah, a new word, relevant.
Right, another new word. It replaces new material, right?
Yeah, relevant.
So my plan is to make sure the veterans have the best claim up front. Try to front-load this whole thing, try to get the testing done, try to get the lay letter done, try to get the Nexus done, try to get all that stuff up front. So when you get into those lanes, you’ve got a little jump start on it.
Yeah, because you don’t have those claims. Something that’s important is the way you identify the claim. It used to be you could write the claim on a piece of toilet paper, you know, put it in. But now you have to specify what your issue is, what your secondary issues are, so it’s complicated. The VA is loving to group things now. I see necks grouped with knees, grouped with hips, 10%. They group all together.
Here’s a question for you, Dr. Bash. Since you’re in this stuff, you’re a neuroradiologist. Say a veteran has a client, and he’s got neurological conditions, you know, basically radiculitis and things like that. But, you know, radiculitis and nerve effects and things like that to muscles and your shoulders. Say you lose a lot of muscle mass in your shoulder and your arm, and it locks up, and you have a lot of problems.
Importance of Accurate Diagnosis
Well, nerve can cause sensory problems and also can cause motor muscle problems, you know. So that’s why you see those claims where they talk about range of motion, they talk about sensory radiculopathy, and they talk about the myopathy, like the weakness. They can rate all that stuff. On the DBQ, you have the range of motion and strength testing, they kind of go together, but they don’t have to.
Yeah, it depends on the nature of the injury, whether it’s a traumatic or whatever injury. Certain things happen with spinal cord injuries and things like that. Sometimes they don’t rate it correctly. They’ll rate one issue instead of the other. They’ll combine multiple ratings into one rating.
Yeah, it gets into the function. You might have numbness in your hands, but you have pretty good grip strength. They might rate the numbness and not rate the myopathy, or vice versa. You might have myopathy and can’t open jars, they can rate that strength and weakness.
Conclusion
Thank you all for listening. That ends this show. Now I’m going to zoom off