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Director (00/21)
/ DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRSVeterans Benefits Administration
Washington, D.C. 20420
November 1, 2011
Director (00/21) In Reply Refer To: 212
All VA Regional Offices and Centers Fast Letter 11-28
SUBJ: Revised Procedures Related to Printing Veterans Health Administration Electronic Medical Records
This letter revises current procedures for printing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical records electronically available through the Compensation and Pension Records Interchange (CAPRI). Current procedures require Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) claims personnel to print such records as a part of evidence gathering in the disability claims process and before forwarding a certified appellate case to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA). VBA has revised the procedures for printing VHA medical records electronically available in CAPRI to reduce paper duplication of electronic records, reduce the size of claim folders, and streamline the claims process.
Revised Procedures
Effective November 1, 2011, follow the procedures in the below table in regards to handling VHA medical records electronically available in CAPRI:
Step / ActionClaim Development / When developing a claim:
• Do not print VHA medical records electronically available in CAPRI.
• Follow current procedures to review and identify VHA medical records pertinent to the disability claim electronically available in CAPRI.
• Upload to the Virtual VA eFolder the VHA medical records electronically available in CAPRI.
To upload records to the Virtual VA eFolder, follow procedures under the Saving CAPRI Reports to Virtual VA in Lieu of Printing User Guide.
• Select all the text of the report and copy it to your clipboard.
• Open a new blank Microsoft Word document and paste the report into the blank document.
• Save the newly created Word document to a secure local or network drive. Be sure to take note of the filename and directory path location.
• Log into Virtual VA and locate the appropriate electronic claim file (eFolder) to which the CAPRI report should be uploaded.
• Click the “Insert Doc” button within the Virtual VA eFolder and insert the CAPRI document you previously saved.
• Specify the document type as “CAPRI” and the document category field as “Medical Records.”
• Input the name/location of VA Medical Center from which the CAPRI records were downloaded into the “Source Comment” field.
• Specify the claimed contentions addressed in the CAPRI records being uploaded into the “Treatment/Condition” field.
• Enter the earliest treatment date in the CAPRI records being uploaded into the “Treatment Start Date” and the latest treatment date in the CAPRI records being uploaded into the “Treatment End Date” field.
• Use the print button on the tool bar to print the page to document the insertion of the CAPRI records. This one printed page must be filed into the center portion of the relevant claims file.
• Click “Insert” to save the document to the electronic claims folder.
• Review the inserted document to ensure completeness.
• Delete the document saved to the secure local or network drive.
File any received paper VHA medical records in the claims folder as normal.
Evidence Review in Decision Process / When rating a claim:
• Do not print VHA medical records electronically available in CAPRI.
• Access the CAPRI report in the Virtual VA eFolder under the “Documents” tab. The “Doc Type” identification is “CAPRI” and the date of receipt is the date it was uploaded.
• Identify the CAPRI records specifically housed in Virtual VA as evidence in the rating decision.
• Discuss in the decision the CAPRI records stored in Virtual VA.
Review any paper VHA medical records in the claims folder as normal.
Appeals/
Certification to BVA / When forwarding a certified appellate case to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA), do not print VHA medical records electronically available in the Virtual VA eFolder.
BVA has agreed to review records in the Virtual VA eFolder.
Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act / When a Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) request for a copy of the claims folder is received, print the VHA medical records stored in the Virtual VA eFolder if covered by the FOIA/PA request.
Batch Printing of VHA Exams
Continue to batch print VHA Compensation and Pension exams, as normal.
Veterans Service Officer Access to Virtual VA
Virtual VA is available to Veterans Service Officers (VSOs) who are granted access to other VBA systems. Therefore, VSOs continue to have ease of access to all the records considered in the claims process.
Questions
Questions concerning this fast letter should be submitted to VAVBAWAS/CO/212A.
/S/
Thomas J. Murphy
Director
Compensation Service