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Articles
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| Claims for PTSD Streamlined |
By Ray Boeckman, CVSO
On Monday, July 12, 2010, the VA published the final regulation making the disability claim process for veterans suffering from PTSD easier. The new rule reduces the evidence needed if the PTSD stressor claimed by a Veteran is related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity and is consistent with the places, types, and circumstances of the Veteran’s service. From a County Veteran Service Officer point of view developing a veteran’s claim for PTSD under the old system was very difficult and very time consuming. Previously the VA required non-combat Veterans to corroborate the fact that they experienced a PTSD stressor related to hostile military activity.
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The burden was on the veteran to seek out evidence (proof) of their experience. This would involve finding documentation or obtaining statements from the people you served with perhaps up to 50 or more years ago (if they were still alive). The claim process was not easy and often resulted in benefits being denied. This final rule simplifies the development that is required for these cases. Under the new rule, VA will not require corroboration of a PTSD stressor related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity if a VA psychiatrist or psychologist confirms that the stressful experience recalled by a Veteran adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the Veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressor.
Here are a few questions & answers about this subject:
As the regulatory revision seems to require an enhanced role for the examining VA mental health professional, whose role is it to determine whether the claimed stressor is consistent with the Veteran’s service?
VA adjudicators, not the examining psychiatrist or psychologist, will decide whether the claimed stressor is consistent with the Veteran’s service.
Is the new regulation applicable only if the Veteran's statements relate to combat or POW service?
No. The rule states that the stressor must be related to a “fear of hostile military or terrorist activity,” and the claimed stressor must be “consistent with the places, types, and circumstances of the veteran’s service.”
How will the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) work with Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) on the new regulation?
VHA was actively involved in discussion with VBA of the new regulation and fully supports the new regulation.
· The new regulation will provide fair evaluation for Veterans whose military records have been damaged or destroyed, or for who no definitive reports of combat action appeared in their military records, even though they can report such actions and it is reasonable to believe that these occurred, given the time and place of service.
· This will be especially beneficial to women Veterans, whose records do not specify that they had combat assignments, even though their roles in the military placed them at risk of hostile military or terrorist activity.
· This means that more Veterans will become eligible for VA care and thus be able to receive VA care for mental illness related to their military service, as well as receiving full holistic health care. VHA will work actively with VBA on implementing the regulation. VHA staff’s main role is as clinicians conducting C&P interviews to establish diagnoses and obtain other information to be used by VBA raters to determine the outcome of claims.
· The new regulation will not change the diagnostic elements of the C&P interview, but may change what additional data are collected for use by VBA raters.
PTSD is a recognized anxiety disorder that can develop from seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon among war Veterans. VA expects this rulemaking to decrease the time it takes VA to decide disability claims and access to health care, falling under the revised criteria and for Veterans to access health care. More than 400,000 Veterans currently receiving compensation benefits are service connected for PTSD.
If you are a veteran or if you know of a veteran suffering from PTSD or symptoms of PTSD (anxiety, depression, etc.) you should see your County Veteran Service Officer and look into the process of filing a disability claim. You no longer need to have a Combat Infantry Badge, Combat Action Ribbon, Purple Heart, or any other combat valor award as proof of being exposed to a traumatic event resulting in PTSD. Begin the process, take that first step, contact your CVSO now. Sawyer County Veteran Service contact number is (715)634-2770.
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Posted on Jul 26, 2010 07:32am by admin
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Copyright 2010, LCoTimes.com
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