How to Address Errors in VA C & P Exams during the IDES Process

As you complete your VA C&P exams as part of the IDES process, you will find the exam reports posted to your Tricare Online records about two weeks after each exam is complete. Please review these exams for errors, as these reports will form the basis for assigning disability ratings to your unfitting conditions and your service-connected conditions. Repeat- these exams will form the basis for assigning your rating percentages, regardless of what other records are part of your VA case file.   If you find errors, please put your areas of disagreement in writing on a VA Form 4138 and support your points of contention with medical records that contradict the VA examiner’s findings. Nonmedical evidence showing how each condition affects you should also be included. Your 4138 and supporting documents should be forwarded to your MSC to upload to your VA case file.   Also, it would help if you pointed out these errors to your MEB providers regarding any potentially unfitting diagnoses so that they may address these points in the MEB Narrative Summary as well. Following these steps is likely to result in the VA Rating Activity disregarding flawed exams and basing your rating upon the evidence you provide instead. This approach may obviate the need for a VA One-tine Reconsideration Request on the DOD side of the house or the need for supplemental appeals on the VA side of the equation. In short, he or she who hesitates is lost.