Michigan Legion Media Room

The American Legion Washington DC Office HOT ISSUES Friday June 28th, 2013 ACTIONS – On Monday, June 24, staff met with Brian Hawkins, Director and Ross Fletcher, Chief of Staff of the DC VA Medical Center  to discuss the Compensation and Pension (C&P) RSVP Scheduling Program at DC VA Medical Center.   By regulation, the Veterans Benefits Administration requires veterans that submit a claim for an injury/illness to conduct a C&P exam to determine the severity of injury/illness and appropriate percentage of service connection.  The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) sends a C&P exam request to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to schedule and complete the C&P exam.  Instead of mailing the veteran a letter with their date for the C&P exam within 30 days, the DC VA Medical Center and other pilot VA sites sending a RSVP letter to request a veteran schedule an appointment within 10 days.  The RSVP program h...

The American Legion Washington DC Office HOT ISSUES Wednesday June 4th, 2013 ACTIONS - Staff attended the Veterans Benefits Administration/VSO meeting.  The main topic of this meeting is the "new" Standardized Notice of Disagreement" form. At previous meetings with VBA Senior Leadership, and during the last VSO Quarterly meeting, The American Legion staff identified concerns with the latest NOD form that was being sent out to veterans. After staff stated concerns about the NOD form, the VFW, VVA, PVA and AMVETS stated they echo the concerns of The American Legion The VA requested veterans to fill the NOD form out and submit directly back to the local VA Regional Office At the next VSO Bi-Weekly Meeting, Mr. Ron Burke, SES, Director of AMC will introduce the "new" Standardized Notice of Disagreement form.  At this time, we will provide feedback and concerns. Please see attached Two Year Old Claim Initiative Document that exp...