Citation Nr: 21063397 Decision Date: 10/14/21 Archive Date: 10/14/21 DOCKET NO. 17-51 939 DATE: October 14, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to a 100 percent disability rating (claimed as a temporary total evaluation) for service-connected bladder cancer is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from September 1967 to July 1988. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2016 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Decatur, Georgia. Having determined that service connection for bladder cancer was not warranted, the RO found that there was no basis for assigning a temporary total evaluation based on surgery and convalescence related to the bladder cancer. The Veteran appealed. A Board hearing with the undersigned Veterans Law Judge was held in August 2019. A hearing transcript is associated with the record. This matter was most recently remanded for further development by the Board in June 2021. It has since been returned for appellate review. 1. Entitlement to a temporary total evaluation for service-connected bladder cancer is remanded. The Board granted service connection for bladder cancer in June 2021. In an August 2021 rating decision, the RO effectuated the grant service connection and assigned a 100 percent evaluation under Diagnostic Code (DC) 7528, effective December 17, 2014 (date of claim). The rating decision also assigned an evaluation of 40 percent for bladder cancer, effective December 19, 2019. DC 7528 provides a 100 percent schedular rating for malignant neoplasms of the genitourinary system. The Note following DC 7528 provides that following the cessation of surgical, X-ray, antineoplastic chemotherapy or other therapeutic procedure, the rating of 100 percent shall continue with a mandatory VA examination at the expiration of six months. Any change in evaluation based upon that or any subsequent examination shall be subject to the provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.105(e). If there has been no local reoccurrence or metastasis, rate on residuals as voiding dysfunction or renal dysfunction, whichever is predominant. In other words, Diagnostic Code 7528, creates a unique rating that is akin to 38 C.F.R. § 4.30, which pertains to convalescent ratings. In an August 2021 supplemental statement of the case (SSOC), the RO explained that the Veteran's 100 percent rating for his bladder cancer had been reduced to 40 percent because the VA examination he had on December 19, 2019 showed that his bladder cancer was in remission. The RO further explained that the 40 percent rating assigned from December 19, 2019 and thereafter was related to his residuals to due bladder cancer. The RO noted that the Veteran's most recent surgery for his bladder cancer was in January 2018 and that he had not had a surgery since that time that would warrant an assigment of 100 percent under 38 C.F.R. § 4.115b, DC 7528. In an August 2021 correspondence, the Veteran reported that he had undergone an additional bladder cancer surgery to remove a tumor on March 25, 2020. He submitted documentation of this surgery that was performed by his private urologist. Although the Veteran has submitted evidence that shows he had a tumor removed from his bladder on March 25, 2020, it is unclear when the removed tumor was first discovered by the Veteran's private urologist(s), i.e. when the recurrence was identified. As the Veteran is entitled to an effective date for his claimed 100 percent rating based on the date that the removed tumor was first discovered, remand is warranted to obtain treatment records from the Veteran's private urologist(s) from December 2019 to present. The Board notes that in his August 2021 correspondence, the Veteran also reported a bladder cancer surgery that happened in January 2019. As discussed above, the Veteran was assigned a 100 percent evaluation for his bladder cancer from December 17, 2014 to December 19, 2019. Because the Veteran's bladder cancer was rated at 100 percent for a period of time greater than six months following his January 2019 bladder cancer surgery and was reduced after a VA examination indicated that his bladder cancer was in remission, the Veteran's rating for this period was already in compliance with 38 C.F.R. § 4.115b, DC 7528 with respect to his January 2019 surgery. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Contact the Veteran and request that he identify the names and addresses for all private healthcare providers who have treated him for his bladder cancer from December 2019 to present, to include his private urologist(s), WellStar Urology Hiram, WellStar Kennestone Urology Procedure Center, WellStar Kennestone Hospital, and WellStar Cobb Hospital. The Veteran should be requested to sign any necessary authorization for release of private treatment records to VA, and appropriate steps should be taken to obtain any identified records. 2. Once the above development has been completed, adjudicate the claim for entitlement to a 100 percent schedular evaluation for service-connected bladder cancer in regard to the tumor that was surgically removed on March 25, 2020. MICHAEL A. HERMAN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board E. Fairlie, Associate Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.