I was educated during the two weeks I was sitting in for the Monroe County Veterans Service Officer, Larry Catt. I’d read about, and passed along to you in this column a few months ago, one of the VA’s means of speeding up the processing of the more routine disability and pension claims. You may recall the VA used the word "triage" for the decision upon receipt of claims as to which path they would be assigned, the simple/fast or complex/slow. Here’s what I discovered after discussions with Vicky St. Myer (Larry’s main veterans assistant), Larry, two VA regional office employees, and Tom Applegate, Director of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs: First the term "triage" is misleading. You and I know medics apply the real triage process to treating combat wounded. In that situation the "tri-" prefix makes sense. There are three categories: 1) must be treated as soon as possible to save their lives, 2) will live with minimal treatment and can wait while category 1) patients are treated, and 3) are going to die no matter what the medic does, so just make them as comfortable as possible. VA use of the triage term makes me think whomever came up with it was never in combat. The VA disability claims categorization process only has two choices, "Fully Developed Claims" versus "Slow Boat to China Claims". (Well, maybe they don’t actually call the second-class claims "Slow Boat To China Claims" but they might as well.) To pass the stringent criteria for selection into the Fully Developed Claim (FDC) expedited adjudication process, the FDC Package must have a special FDC orange colored cover sheet signed by the claimant. The last page must be a special FDC check list form signed by the claimant certifying all the required documents are included. There are special FDC claim forms which must be used, such as the VA 21-526EZ for service connected disability claims. Absolutely no VA 21-4142 release forms can be used. ( - Even though the VA remains bound by "duty to assist" requirements to accept and use this form to help claimants obtain medical information from third parties such as local hospitals or doctors. Evidently, it takes too long for the VA to help the vets to allow time for such assistance in the speed ball process.) There are several other picky absolute requirements, but you get the idea. If the VA receives an attempt at an FDC package but one of their mandatory T’s are not crossed or I’s are not dotted, the package is disqualified and put in the second category. Vicky has gotten FDC claims through in weeks. Non-FDC claims are taking between 18 and 24 months. The VA is obviously trying to play catch up with their 900,000+ backlog of pending claims. If they can get the claimants and those helping the claimants to do most of the work for them, fine. Crank those simple claims through quickly. But VA disqualifying packages for the FDC expedited process just because of an arbitrary technicality, such as missing the orange cover sheet, is inappropriate. The VA announced the expedited process concept more than a year ago as simple, straight forward claims being assigned to new, trainee employees under close supervision. The slower, traditional claims adjudication process was to be for more complex claims requiring further development and assigned to senior, experienced employees. However, the VA screeners are not, in fact, categorizing the incoming claims according to simple or complex. That would require actually reading the claims and thinking. They are using a clerical FDC check list: "Aha! He’s missing such-and-such form! Into the slow stack!" I verified (can’t say with who) that a veteran who filed his or her own VA claim would probably never be able to put together an FDC package which would be accepted into the fully developed claim fast track. The actual answer I received was, "I can’t imagine that a veteran, acting on his own, would be able to assemble an FDC package that the VA would accept." Most of the FDC administrative requirements are not published. You may also recall how critical it has always been for the VA to receive partial or informal claims – especially near the end of the month – to get a claimant-signed piece of paper date stamped in order to protect the earliest possible effective date. Awards are usually retroactive to the first day of the month following the month of receipt of the claim. Depending on what is quickly available, the time required even by Vicky to help a veteran assemble a fully developed claim can easily be weeks if not months. There is a VA specified way to file an informal claim early to protect the ultimate effective date while not kicking the claim into the Slow Boat process, but the magic "FDC informal claim" paragraph (which must be used verbatim) is not available to regular, unassisted claimants. Here it is: "I intend to apply for compensation/pension [select which] benefits under the FDC Program. This statement is to preserve my effective date for entitlement to benefits. I am in the process of assembling my claim package for submission." The FDC package must be submitted within one year of the VA receipt of the FDC informal claim. The informal claim must be signed and include enough information to identify the claimant, such as claim number, Social Security number, military service number, date of birth, telephone number, and address. By the way, once a fully developed claim has been accepted by the VA into the expedited FDC process, any subsequent information or evidence submitted to the VA about that claim will probably cause the claim to be dropped from the FDC Program and categorized into the traditional (estimated 18 to 24 months) Slow Boat to China processing. John Tilford – Service Officer