by Jim Fausone

VA just announced that it will test quicker ways to access private medical records. It wants a private contractor to quickly retrieve the records from the health-care provider, scan them into a digital format and send the material to VA through a secure transmission. But we have found that most Regional Office employees do not have a computer capable of reading CDs or DVDs. As a result, if you send them records on such media, the RO will simply drop it into the file and never look at what was submitted. This problem also exists at the Board and is acknowledged by all attorneys practicing in the field. The Secretary should stop “testing quicker ways” and provide the RO staff the technology they need to do their basic job.

Read more at: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2012