Citation Nr: 21023435 Decision Date: 04/20/21 Archive Date: 04/20/21 DOCKET NO. 16-25 485 DATE: April 20, 2021 REMANDED The issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. The issue of an initial rating higher than 40 percent for lumbar spine degenerative arthritis (low back disability) is remanded. The issue of an initial rating higher than 20 percent for a left shoulder strain is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from September 2004 to September 2012. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2013 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In January 2019, the Veteran was notified that a videoconference hearing was scheduled for March 2019. The Veteran did not appear; he has not since asked for it to be rescheduled. Accordingly, the hearing request is deemed withdrawn. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.704(d). In February 2020, the Board remanded the appeal for additional development. REASONS FOR REMAND 1. The issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. 2. The issue of an initial rating higher than 40 percent for a low back disability is remanded. 3. The issue of an initial rating higher than 20 percent for a left shoulder strain is remanded. In a July 2020 statement, the Veteran reported that he was currently being treated through the VA clinic in Oxnard, California, and by Dr. Kraft through Mission Act, Community Care. The Veteran requested for VA to obtain updated VA and private treatment records. As background, VA, through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), authorizes eligible Veterans to receive health care from a community provider rather than waiting for a VA appointment or traveling to a VA facility. In 2019, VA launched the Veterans Community Care Program. Here, the Veteran’s Community Care Program records are incomplete. The Veteran’s claims file does not include private treatment records from Dr. Kraft. In September 2020, VA requested the Veteran complete VA Forms 21-4142a and 21-4142 to assist it in obtaining these records. The Veteran did not submit the requested forms within the 30 days indicated in VA’s notification letter. However, VA treatment records associated with the record in October 2020 indicate some of the records from Dr. Kraft were obtained. For instance, two separate June 2020 Community Care-Consult Result Notes indicate records from the Kraft Chiropractic Clinic were received and scanned into VistA Imaging. See CAPRI records received October 2, 2020. The Board also identified another October 2020 Community Care-Consult Result Note stating records pertaining to acupuncture treatment were scanned into VistA Imaging on that date. See CAPRI record received October 29, 2020. It is unclear to the Board to which conditions these chiropractic and acupuncture treatment records pertain. Moreover, the Board does not have access to documents scanned into VistA Imaging. In addition, VA treatment records are only current through December 2020. Therefore, a remand is necessary to obtain outstanding private and VA treatment records and associate them in a manner in which the Board may review them. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to complete a VA Form 21-4142 for treatment by Dr. Kraft, as well as any other provider for which the Veteran receives treatment for his lumbar strain, shoulder strain and hearing loss through the Veterans Community Care Program. Make two requests for the authorized records unless it is clear after the first request that a second request would be futile. 2. Obtain and associate with the record VA treatment records since December 2020. 3. Independent of Directive #1, identify all records generated through the Veterans Community Care Program that VHA already possesses relevant to treatment of the Veteran's lumbar strain, shoulder strain and hearing loss. Once identified, arrange for these documents to be made viewable in VBMS and/or added as separate files. In short, the Board wants to ensure that it can view all available records, not simply a notation that private records have been scanned into a VHA database to which the Board does not have access. Please print any relevant records from VistA imaging, including those mentioned in the VA Record received in October 2020 involving chiropractic and acupuncture treatment, and then scan the printed records into the Veteran's benefits file (VBMS). The Board reminds the AOJ that the Board does not have access to VistA Imaging, so any relevant records contained in VistA must be copied and uploaded/added to the Veteran's VBMS file. 4. Undertake any development deemed necessary by completion of Directives #1, #2 and #3. Tiffany Dawson Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Castillo, 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.