Wait Time For Providence, RI

Just checked ebenefits this afternoon, the VA completed my case as of 1/30/14. IDES-Complete, decision notification sent in the mail. I was able to see the results under Access Documents/Download VA Letters. I'm very happy that the VA portion is done and I'm just waiting on AFPC. I was given 100% P&T VA. I too am looking forward to moving on with my new normal life. My case was a cardiac case as well with AICD, so if anyone needs help or wants some info regarding AICD cases please let me know.

It does seem like Providence is picking up a little. I wish everyone waiting for Providence to see results soon. I would like to Thank You all for your service to our country and especially your service with this forum.
 
I really hope you are right about them picking up speed. Several people on here have been waiting far too long. I'm only at 50 odd days now so I still have to wait. But here's hoping some of you see ratings in the first couple weeks of February!
 
Psmith454 said:
Aug 2 2013 the VA got my package for a rating. I have more than 8 conditions. AD Air Force been in for 5 years..... Tick tock. I have been IDES for over 2 years.
Click to expand...


OK spoke to Base VA Rep today. This is what I was told,

"Your case was just coveted on 01/30/2014. This has been the first month (Jan) that I have seen any of the cases I filled in Aug come back to AFPC (AF Headquarters). You should be done with the VA soon. The good news is your package is not lost and its moving."

She noted that coveted to the VA means "Placed on someones desk to work on other than the person that had it last. When it moves from person to person a coveted time stamp is placed on the claim. An ETA was not included of course... I expressed at the beging of our call that I was concerned that my claim may have been lost or tossed. After we discussed the coveted thing she told me that this is a good sign and I should see some real progress soon.

I hope this means Ebennys will reflect some sort of change by next week. Purely to put my mind at ease that something is really happening. The only thing I know for a fact is that a Coworker of mind that filed around the same time as me has gotten his DA 199. So as of 02/02/2014 I will have spent nearly 210 days at the VA post C&P of course.

Sorry my story is a downer, I will hound my MSC untill I get physical proof of forward motion. Have a good weekend.
 
no worries smith, its a sad long and getting longer journey, i too based on conversations with multiple people am very confused and concerned about the "location" of my packet.

The ebennies website says under the first block "review of evidence.... if all evidence is present, claimw ill move directly to prep for decision"

my case is on "gathering of evidence" and has been since day 1 after my C/P exams were sent in (it moved when they got the exams waaay before my narsum or anything was done).

So the obvious question is, what are they missing if I did not go straight from reviewing evidence to prep. for decision, So of course I call up, hey not real pushy, but curious what is missing from my file, is there something I can help obtain etc. I am then informed that, nope everything they need is there, but they cannot tell me if my case has even been assigned a rating official yet?, ridiculouse, either they are sitting on some cases to process the easy ones to make numbers look good, or they are ignoring something major due to the onslaught of Army cases. (every service member deserves fair and prompt service, but shifting workloads around aint gonna help that 10000 cases in Seattle is still 10000 cases in Providence regardless of who is working them). Then there is the "guideline" of first in first out, well those of us originally assigned to providence were first in, but the army backlog they have inherited because of seattles inabilities is older and makes everyone look bad, so lets (apply fancy term for tiger team/brain storm/surge etc.) them to make us look better.

I expected the wait, I am not dieing (debatable in my mind, but not a chronic illness just misery), so its cool, but I have an SSDI hearing in Mar. that my percentages would reaaaaaaaaaaly help me to have, and being that I had no control over either agencies planning, I do not wanna loose my case because somehow someway the SS agency was faster than the VA for gods sake. My future and my families financial security rides on this decision and I am going freaking nuts anxious over it every freaking day.

All of this pressure and anxiety on me, and other service members in Limbo, AND THE VA CANNOT EVEN TELL US THE LOCATION OF A DIGITAL FILE WITH TRACKING NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO IT.
 
TSgt Twitch said:
no worries smith, its a sad long and getting longer journey, i too based on conversations with multiple people am very confused and concerned about the "location" of my packet.

The ebennies website says under the first block "review of evidence.... if all evidence is present, claimw ill move directly to prep for decision"

my case is on "gathering of evidence" and has been since day 1 after my C/P exams were sent in (it moved when they got the exams waaay before my narsum or anything was done).

So the obvious question is, what are they missing if I did not go straight from reviewing evidence to prep. for decision, So of course I call up, hey not real pushy, but curious what is missing from my file, is there something I can help obtain etc. I am then informed that, nope everything they need is there, but they cannot tell me if my case has even been assigned a rating official yet?, ridiculouse, either they are sitting on some cases to process the easy ones to make numbers look good, or they are ignoring something major due to the onslaught of Army cases. (every service member deserves fair and prompt service, but shifting workloads around aint gonna help that 10000 cases in Seattle is still 10000 cases in Providence regardless of who is working them). Then there is the "guideline" of first in first out, well those of us originally assigned to providence were first in, but the army backlog they have inherited because of seattles inabilities is older and makes everyone look bad, so lets (apply fancy term for tiger team/brain storm/surge etc.) them to make us look better.

I expected the wait, I am not dieing (debatable in my mind, but not a chronic illness just misery), so its cool, but I have an SSDI hearing in Mar. that my percentages would reaaaaaaaaaaly help me to have, and being that I had no control over either agencies planning, I do not wanna loose my case because somehow someway the SS agency was faster than the VA for gods sake. My future and my families financial security rides on this decision and I am going freaking nuts anxious over it every freaking day.

All of this pressure and anxiety on me, and other service members in Limbo, AND THE VA CANNOT EVEN TELL US THE LOCATION OF A DIGITAL FILE WITH TRACKING NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO IT.
Click to expand...
I hate to see people like you who wait so long. Many people who started after you already have ratings. It is ridiculous. It seems as if they need some additional information or documents from you, but they should have asked you for it months ago if that is the case. Do you have a DAV rep yet? You have been in the process a long time. Sometimes they are able to get some definitive answers for you. I would even consider a congressional at this point. I will never understand the VA process. I am in review of evidence and have been since before my unfit. I fail to understand how you are still in gathering of evidence.
 
AngryMeg said:
I hate to see people like you who wait so long. Many people who started after you already have ratings. It is ridiculous. It seems as if they need some additional information or documents from you, but they should have asked you for it months ago if that is the case. Do you have a DAV rep yet? You have been in the process a long time. Sometimes they are able to get some definitive answers for you. I would even consider a congressional at this point. I will never understand the VA process. I am in review of evidence and have been since before my unfit. I fail to understand how you are still in gathering of evidence.
Click to expand...

No DAV rep yet, however the MSC on base here has scrubbed my case at least twive that I know of and seen zero errors or any reason for a delay, except to say that calling the 1-800 number delays it somewhat, as would a congressional. DAV would not delay it, but the 2 for OKC are booked a few weeks out and I need to set an APPT up, drive 50 miles sign papers and wait, driving 20 minutes puts me in agony, riding for 30 about the same, so I put it off as "not required movement" on my energy/pain conservation program. My life has gone brown, I mean green.

The whole stage I am in is a que to be qued to a raters pile, the problem is, those army cases came in as early as late nov. dec. from what I can tell and messed up the whole process. The VA does not care that because my PCM was slow, PEBLO admin lazy, and DAWG incompetent that my MEB started a year later than it should have and took 5 months from official start to C/P exams. they only care that my case got to them on the 18th of sept. and has 25ish claims, 2 of which are "complicated" to rate because of pyramid rules etc. Today is only day 139 in the va's loving hands, and with the MSC/PEBLO saying the new providence timeline is closer to 200, I just sit back, go in for 4 hours a day when not on quarters and collect my pay and sleep.
 
200 days?!?! Are you kidding? Well...they may just be telling you that to placate you. How many people have you seen on here that wait 200 days for ratings from Providence? I don't recall any. That's even worse than Seattle. They are buying time. Although I understand you not wanting to do anything to delay your case movement. Well I guess they will get around to it eventually. But they are really doing you a disservice.
 
AngryMeg said:
200 days?!?! Are you kidding? Well...they may just be telling you that to placate you. How many people have you seen on here that wait 200 days for ratings from Providence? I don't recall any. That's even worse than Seattle. They are buying time. Although I understand you not wanting to do anything to delay your case movement. Well I guess they will get around to it eventually. But they are really doing you a disservice.
Click to expand...

Have seen plenty well over 200 days, only last year during the overtime push did they get down to the 85-12- day range, 2 years ago it was well over that. I want it to be done, but I know there is gonna be a fight anyway once it comes back depending on how the dod side rates me, just based on the fact that They did not add all of my conditions even after the IMR (they added most of them but left the neck and thigh fascitomy off which are both automatic MEB items according to regs), so for me the return of ratings is just the next step of many. I was mad as heck the first 6-8 months of the process, but after that I just learned to breathe and take it as it comes, nothing you can do except verify they have everything and wait, no one oversee's the VA, the congressional only serves to give warm fuzzies at best, and cause lost files at worse.
 
Frank congrats buddy I really am happy you and your family, I feel like we have been together through this. That being said my va rep told me that the va basically threw my to the side because I was still on active duty not realizing I was going thru the IDES process. She is working on it now and god willing I find out soon this is getting ridiculous. But seeing how fast your case moved at the end here is encouraging let us know how long until you go on terminal leave and such. Thanks man and congrats really
 
Thank you DaPats, I can't believe your package was not worked as an IDES package. I really hope the VA places you into a priority stack since you were lost in the system. I'll definitely keep my signature updated as I process out of the system, good luck brother.
 
Thanks buddy and hopefully the va will pull a miracle out of their asses and get mine done soon
 
Okies, hope I am not premature here, but just moved to prep. for decision.

Of course, I did just get around to getting my SCAADLE paperwork completed so, shrug lol. wish me luck, I am giddy, hope its not for not.
 
Last edited:
It's about time! I hope your case finalizes quick like the rest of them seem to be.
 
That's Awesome TSgt Twitch! I'm Happy that you are getting some movement. Keepin fingers crossed for you!
 
Good for you Tech SGT!

I got great news too, my case jumped from "review of evidence" to "pending decision approval".

I don't know what to think of this as I never went through the "Prep for decision phase".

I am excited but I just think it's weird how it jumped 2 phases in one day. I have heard stories where ebenefits isn't entirely accurate but I'm not going to complain.

Looks like Providence is really getting some work accomplished.

Keep ya posted!
 
With everyones past experience and knowledge, how long is the case usually in ""pending decision approval" phase?

Does that mean it has already been rated the rater and just waiting for another set of eyes to "ok" the proposed ratings?
 
navidnavid said:
With everyones past experience and knowledge, how long is the case usually in ""pending decision approval" phase?

Does that mean it has already been rated the rater and just waiting for another set of eyes to "ok" the proposed ratings?
Click to expand...
useally not more than a few days. and yes its waiting approval, once it is done, it should move back to gethering of evidence and list your separation docs as documents needed.
 
Mine was in Pending decision approval for maybe a week, then once a supervisor approved the rater's work and signed off on it, it went to Preparation for Notification. It was in this last phase for maybe 3 days then complete.

If you bring your computer's curser over the different step i.e. move it over Preparation for Notification, it will give you a little bit more info on dates, like when it started this phase, and when it's estimated to complete this phase and move onto next. Or at least I could see this info on my account when I moved my curser from stage to stage in your claim. Good Luck! Great news that your moving along, or at least seeing some movement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top