Citation Nr: 21007019
Decision Date: 02/08/21	Archive Date: 02/08/21

DOCKET NO. 12-24 268A
DATE: February 8, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to payment or reimbursement for unauthorized expenses incurred for care at E.W. Sparrow Hospital, Lansing, Michigan from February 10, 2010 to February 16, 2010 is remanded for the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) to reconstruct the record and upload all documentation related to the appeal to the electronic claims file.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty in the Air Force from June 1990 to January 1994. 

This case comes before the Board on appeal from a December 2010 decision of a VA Medical Center in Battle Creek, Virginia.

Prior Board Remand

The Board previously remanded this case in September 2015 with directions for the AOJ to locate and obtain all relevant records dated earlier than November 2011, including the claimant’s original claim and the AOJ’s original decision. The Board also directed that the Veteran’s March 2011 claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, secondary to his service-connected migraine headaches, should be adjudicated, on the grounds that this service connection claim was inextricably intertwined with the medical reimbursement claim.

However, there is no evidence that relevant records before November 2011 have been sought, or that the Veteran’s claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder has been adjudicated. A Board remand confers on the Veteran the right to compliance with the remand orders and imposes on VA a concomitant duty to ensure such compliance. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). Therefore, the case must be remanded to the AOJ for compliance with the Board’s prior remand directives, as well as for the additional reasons described below.

Record Rebuild

The complete file for the claim of entitlement to payment or reimbursement for unauthorized expenses incurred by the Veteran for care at Portneuf Medical Center, Pocatello, Idaho from December 26, 2012 to December 30, 2012 cannot be located, and some documentation pertinent to the appeal is not in the electronic record, including the original claim and decision and any relevant medical records.

Therefore, this case must be remanded for the AOJ to reconstruct the record and upload all documentation related to the appeal to the electronic claims file.  If any such records cannot be located, the AOJ should make a formal finding of unavailability.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1. Reconstruct the record and upload all documentation related to the claim for payment or reimbursement for unauthorized expenses incurred for care at E.W. Sparrow Hospital, Lansing, Michigan from February 10, 2010 to February 16, 2010 to the electronic claims file, including in particular the original claim and decision and any relevant medical records.

If any such records are unable to be associated with the record, make a formal finding of unavailability.

2. Refer the Veteran’s file to the appropriate regional office of the Veterans Benefits Administration for adjudication of the Veteran’s March 2011 claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder.

 

 

S.C. KREMBS

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	P. Timmerman, 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.