Citation Nr: 21024107 Decision Date: 04/22/21 Archive Date: 04/22/21 DOCKET NO. 16-34 826 DATE: April 22, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus type II is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from September 1968 to October 1971. The Veteran testified before the undersigned at a July 2019 Travel Board hearing and a transcript of the hearing has been associated with the claims file. This matter was previously denied by the Board in September 2019. Thereafter, in November 2020, the Veteran and the Secretary of VA (parties) agreed to a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR), which was subsequently ordered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) in December 2020. As discussed below, the Board finds that additional development is warranted, and the matter is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus type II is remanded. In the November 2020 JMPR, the parties agreed that the Board previously erred in failing to ensure that VA satisfied the duty to assist to make reasonable efforts to obtain the Veteran’s private treatment records from Steele Memorial Rural Health Clinic. The duty to assist requires that the Secretary make reasonable efforts to obtain private records adequately identified by the claimant and relevant to his claim. See 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(b)(1); Golz v. Shinseki, 590 F.3d 1317, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (VA’s duty to assist extends to “potentially relevant” evidence, meaning “those records that relate to the injury for which the claimant is seeking benefits and have a reasonable possibility of helping to substantiate the veteran’s claim”). Where VA becomes aware of the existence of such records before deciding a claim, “VA will notify the claimant of the records and request that the claimant provide a release for the records.” 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e)(2). The November 2020 JMPR discussed that VA was made aware of the potential existence of outstanding private treatment records from Steele Memorial Rural Health Clinic that relate to the Veteran’s service connection claim for diabetes mellitus, such that VA was required to have requested that the Veteran provide a release for these records. Specifically, in a January 2016 letter, Dr. Max Scholle alluded to the existence of outstanding certified laboratory values indicating “elevated fasting blood glucose greater than 160 and non-fasting blood sugars greater than 200.” Notably, the June 2016 VA examiner stated, “[n]one of the lab values mentioned by Dr. Scholle are available in the records in VBMS.” The parties agreed that Dr. Scholle’s identification of outstanding lab reports from Steele Memorial Rural Health Clinic has a reasonable possibility of helping to substantiate the Veteran’s claim for service connection for diabetes mellitus. Accordingly, the Board agrees that remand is warranted for VA to solicit a release from the Veteran for the outstanding records from Steele Memorial Rural Health Clinic as part of its statutory duty to assist. See 38 U.S.C. § 5103A(b)(1); 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(e)(2). The matter is REMANDED for the following action: Ask the Veteran to identify any relevant outstanding private treatment records that he wishes VA to obtain, to specifically include, but not limited to, records from Steele Memorial Rural Health Clinic. After obtaining any necessary authorization forms from the Veteran, obtain any pertinent records identified, and associate them with the claims file. A. P. SIMPSON Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board D. Chad Johnson, 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.