Abandoned claim
A claim VA may stop processing when requested action or evidence is not provided within the allowed period. A new filing may then be required.
VA Learning Center
VA disability terms, explained clearly.
Use this glossary to decode wording from claim updates, C&P exams, rating decisions, and review letters. Search a phrase or jump to its first letter.
184 terms available
Plain-English reference
Start with the words in front of you.
VA language can compress a medical, legal, or processing concept into one acronym. These short explanations give you enough context to read the next document and identify the right follow-up question.
Definitions are educational summaries. For a deadline, eligibility rule, or filing decision, confirm the current instructions on VA.gov or with an accredited representative.
Accredited representative
A person or organization VA has authorized to help with benefit claims. This may be a VSO representative, claims agent, or attorney.
Accrued benefits
Certain VA benefits that were due but unpaid when a beneficiary died and may be payable to an eligible survivor or qualifying expense payer.
ACE exam
An Acceptable Clinical Evidence review lets a clinician complete some claim evaluations from existing records, sometimes with a phone interview, instead of an in-person exam.
Active duty for training
Full-time training duty performed by Reserve or National Guard members. Eligibility can depend on when a disease or injury began or worsened during that period.
Adding dependents
The process of updating VA compensation or pension for an eligible spouse, child, or dependent parent when the benefit and rating requirements are met.
Agency of original jurisdiction
The VA office that made the decision being reviewed. It is commonly abbreviated AOJ.
Agent Orange
A tactical herbicide associated with specific locations and periods of military service. VA presumes service connection for listed diseases when eligibility rules are satisfied.
Aggravation
A lasting worsening of a condition. VA may grant service connection when military service worsened a preexisting disability beyond its natural progression.
Aid and attendance
An increased pension or special monthly compensation level for qualifying people who need regular personal assistance or meet other specified criteria.
Analogous rating
A rating assigned under the code for a closely related condition when the diagnosed disability has no dedicated diagnostic code.
Appeals Modernization Act
The law behind VA's current decision-review system, which offers a Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or Board Appeal for many decisions.
Apportionment
A process that directs part of a beneficiary's VA payment to a spouse, child, or dependent parent in qualifying circumstances.
At least as likely as not
A medical probability phrase generally meaning the evidence for and against a relationship is approximately equal, often described as a 50 percent likelihood.
Back pay
A retroactive payment covering benefits owed from the effective date through the point recurring payments begin, subject to VA payment rules.
Benefit of the doubt
When positive and negative evidence on a material issue is approximately balanced, VA resolves reasonable doubt in favor of the claimant.
Benefits Delivery at Discharge
A pre-discharge program that allows eligible service members to file a disability claim before separation so VA can begin development earlier.
Bilateral factor
An additional calculation used when compensable disabilities affect paired arms, paired legs, or paired skeletal muscles before the remaining ratings are combined.
Blue Button
A VA health-record download feature that lets patients access selected information from their VA medical record.
Board appeal
A request for a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans' Appeals to review a VA decision.
Board dockets
The three AMA Board review choices: Direct Review, Evidence Submission, and Hearing. Each has different evidence and hearing rules.
Board of Veterans' Appeals
The VA body whose Veterans Law Judges decide appeals from benefit determinations. It is commonly called the Board or BVA.
Brokering
VA's internal transfer of claim work to another office or processing team to balance workload.
Buddy statement
A written account from someone with firsthand knowledge of an event, symptom, or functional change relevant to a claim.
Burial allowance
A VA payment that may help eligible survivors cover burial, funeral, transportation, or plot costs.
Burn pits
Open-air waste-burning sites used during some deployments. Certain illnesses may qualify for presumptive treatment under toxic-exposure laws.
C-file
The claims file containing records VA has collected or created for a claimant, such as applications, evidence, exams, codesheets, and decisions.
C&P exam
A Compensation and Pension claim exam used to gather medical findings needed to decide service connection, severity, or another benefit question.
Caluza elements
A shorthand for three common service-connection elements: a current disability, an in-service event or injury, and a link between them.
Camp Lejeune
A North Carolina Marine Corps base associated with historical drinking-water contamination. Special health-care and disability rules may apply to qualifying service.
CAPRI
An internal VA system used to view Veterans Health Administration medical information for benefit-processing purposes.
CAVC
The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, a federal court that reviews final Board decisions when properly appealed.
CHAMPVA
A VA health-benefit program for certain spouses, surviving spouses, and children of Veterans who meet specified disability or death-related requirements.
Chapter 35 (DEA)
Education and training benefits for certain dependents and survivors of Veterans who are permanently and totally disabled from service-connected causes or died under qualifying circumstances.
Character of discharge
The service characterization VA considers when deciding basic eligibility. Some people can request a VA character-of-discharge determination or a military discharge upgrade.
Claim for increase
A request for a higher evaluation because an already service-connected disability has worsened.
Claim number
An identifier VA uses for a claimant's benefits record. Modern records often use the Social Security number, while older files may show a C-number.
Claim status steps
The processing stages shown in VA's claim tracker, from receipt and initial review through evidence work, rating, final review, and completion.
Clear and unmistakable error
A rare, outcome-changing error in a final decision that must be undebatable based on the record and law that applied at the time.
Combat presumption
An evidentiary rule that can accept satisfactory lay evidence of an in-service event consistent with combat circumstances, even without an official record of that event.
Combined rating
The single evaluation produced after VA applies its whole-person formula to multiple disability percentages. It is not ordinary addition.
Competent lay evidence
Information a non-expert is qualified to report from personal observation, such as visible symptoms, dates, or functional limitations.
Continuity of symptomatology
Evidence that certain chronic-condition symptoms continued from service to the present, potentially supporting a connection when the applicable legal requirements are met.
Continuous pursuit
Timely use of an available review option after a decision, which can preserve the effective-date chain if all requirements are satisfied.
Contract examiners
Private vendors and clinicians that perform claim exams for VA. VA, rather than the examiner, makes the benefit decision.
CRDP
Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, which can restore some or all waived military retired pay for eligible retirees receiving VA compensation.
CRSC
Combat-Related Special Compensation, a tax-free military payment for eligible retirees with disabilities linked to qualifying combat-related circumstances.
DBQ
A Disability Benefits Questionnaire that organizes medical findings around the information VA commonly needs to evaluate a condition.
DD-214
The discharge or release document that summarizes a period of active service, including dates, character of service, and other key information.
Decision Review Officer
A senior VA employee associated mainly with review of legacy-system disagreements and certain local decision functions.
Decision Review Operations Center
A VA processing location that handles portions of Higher-Level Reviews and Supplemental Claims. It is often abbreviated DROC.
Deferred issue
A claimed issue VA leaves undecided while it gathers more evidence or completes another required action; other issues may be decided meanwhile.
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation
A tax-free monthly benefit for eligible survivors when a Veteran's death or disability history meets VA requirements.
Diagnostic code
The number in VA's rating schedule used to identify the criteria applied to a disability.
Diary date
An internal follow-up date that prompts VA staff or a system to check for evidence, an exam, a response deadline, or another expected event.
Direct service connection
Recognition that a current disability resulted from a disease, injury, or event during qualifying military service.
Disability compensation
A tax-free monthly VA benefit for eligible Veterans with disabilities connected to military service.
Disability rating
A percentage VA assigns to represent the occupational impact of a service-connected disability under the rating schedule.
Duty to assist
VA's obligation, within the applicable claim lane, to make reasonable efforts to obtain identified evidence and provide an exam or opinion when required.
Duty to notify
VA's obligation to tell a claimant what information or evidence is needed and which part VA and the claimant are expected to provide.
Effective date
The date from which VA starts calculating entitlement to a benefit. Filing dates, facts, and special exceptions can affect it.
End product code
An internal code VA uses to classify and track a category of benefits work. The code alone does not show whether a claim will be granted.
EP 010
An internal VA end-product label used for a particular processing workload. Its presence is administrative and is not a disability percentage or decision.
EP 020
An internal VA end-product label used to route and monitor certain claim work. It should be read together with the actual claim issues and notices.
EP 030
An internal VA end-product label for a category of pending work. Internal code use can change and does not establish entitlement by itself.
EP 040
An internal VA end-product label associated with a defined processing category. It is a workload marker rather than a benefit outcome.
EP 110
An internal VA end-product label often seen in claims-processing records. The decision letter remains the controlling explanation of the outcome.
EP 130
An internal VA end-product label used to track a type of benefits action. It does not independently identify the evidence standard or final result.
EP 290
An internal VA end-product label for certain compensation or pension workload. Meaning depends on the underlying action and current VA procedures.
EP 400
An internal VA end-product label used for a category of administrative or benefit work. It does not replace the formal decision notice.
EP 930
An internal VA end-product label used for corrective or other designated work. The associated record is needed to understand why it was established.
Extraschedular rating
An exceptional evaluation route considered when the regular rating criteria do not adequately describe a disability picture and the governing requirements are met.
Failure to report
A missed scheduled VA claim exam. Without good cause or a rescheduled exam, VA may decide the matter under special rules that can harm the claim.
Favorable finding
A fact VA expressly accepts in a decision. Later adjudicators are generally bound by it unless the standard for overturning it is met.
Fear of hostile military activity
A PTSD stressor category involving threatened death or injury from hostile military or terrorist activity, with special evidentiary rules in qualifying cases.
Flare-ups
Periods when symptoms become more severe. Examiners should address their frequency, duration, triggers, and additional functional impact when relevant.
Fully developed claim
A filing option in which the claimant submits available supporting evidence and certifies that no additional private evidence needs to be obtained.
Functional loss
Reduced ability to perform normal movements or tasks because of pain, weakness, fatigue, incoordination, limited motion, or related factors.
Gathering of evidence
The stage when VA may request records, order examinations, seek clarification, or wait for evidence before rating the claim.
General rating formula for mental disorders
The shared criteria VA uses to evaluate most service-connected mental-health conditions based on occupational and social impairment.
Grant rate
The share of decided matters reported as allowed in a dataset. It is a historical statistic, not a prediction for an individual claim.
Gulf War illness
A broad phrase for certain diagnosed or unexplained chronic conditions linked by law to qualifying Southwest Asia service.
Helpless child
VA's term for a qualifying adult child who became permanently incapable of self-support before age 18.
Higher-Level Review
A new review of an existing decision by a more experienced adjudicator using the record already available at the time of that decision.
Housebound
A benefit concept involving substantial confinement to the home or a qualifying combination of service-connected ratings, depending on the program involved.
IDES
The Integrated Disability Evaluation System coordinates Department of Defense fitness evaluation with VA disability processing for certain service members.
Inadequate exam
An examination or opinion that lacks needed findings, reasoning, record consideration, or compliance with instructions and may require clarification or replacement.
Incarceration adjustment
A reduction or change in certain VA payments after incarceration for a felony beyond the period set by law, with possible apportionment to dependents.
Independent medical opinion
A medical assessment from a clinician outside the VA claim-exam process. Its value depends on expertise, facts reviewed, reasoning, and the question addressed.
Informal conference
An optional conversation in a Higher-Level Review that lets the claimant or representative point out specific factual or legal errors in the existing record.
Intent to file
A notice that can reserve a potential effective date while a claimant prepares a complete application, if the application follows within the allowed time.
JLV
The Joint Longitudinal Viewer, an authorized government tool that displays health information from multiple Department of Defense and VA sources.
Lay evidence
Non-expert evidence based on personal knowledge, including statements about events, observable symptoms, and effects on daily life or work.
Legacy appeal
An appeal governed by the system that applied before the modern review framework, generally involving older decisions and forms such as an SOC or substantive appeal.
Line of duty
A determination about whether an injury, disease, or death occurred during qualifying service and was not excluded by misconduct or other legal rules.
Loss of use
A severe level of functional impairment in a hand, foot, organ, or other body part that may support special monthly compensation or adaptive benefits.
M21-1 manual
VA's adjudication procedures manual for claims staff. It guides agency processing but does not replace statutes, regulations, or binding court decisions.
Medical literature
Published scientific or clinical material offered to explain a disease, exposure, mechanism, or relationship. Its usefulness depends on how well it fits the individual facts.
Military personnel records
Official documents describing assignments, units, duties, evaluations, awards, training, and other service history, often maintained in an Official Military Personnel File.
Military sexual trauma
VA's term for sexual assault or threatening sexual harassment experienced during military service. It is an experience, not a diagnosis.
Monday Morning Workload Report
A recurring Veterans Benefits Administration report that summarizes portions of the national claims workload and processing inventory.
MOS
Military occupational specialty, rating, or job code identifying a service member's trained or assigned military work.
Mustard gas and Lewisite
Chemical warfare agents covered by special VA rules for certain full-body exposures and listed later-developing conditions.
National Work Queue
VA's electronic system for distributing claims and tasks among regional offices based on capacity and processing needs.
Nehmer class member
A Veteran or eligible survivor covered by court orders governing certain Agent Orange claims, which can create special effective-date and review rules.
New and relevant evidence
Information not previously part of the record that tends to prove or disprove an issue; it is the evidence threshold for a Supplemental Claim.
Nexus
The link between a current disability and military service or an already service-connected condition.
Nexus letter
A clinician's written opinion addressing whether a medical relationship exists, ideally with the facts, medical reasoning, and probability standard clearly explained.
Non-rating claim
A benefits action that does not require assigning a disability evaluation, such as some dependency, income, or administrative matters.
Original claim
The first formal claim for a particular benefit filed by a Veteran, survivor, or other eligible claimant.
Overpayment
A VA debt created when benefits paid exceed the amount VA determines was due. A person may dispute the debt or request a waiver under applicable procedures.
PACT Act
A 2022 law that expanded VA health care and presumptions for many Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic hazards.
Painful motion
Objectively or credibly painful joint motion that VA must consider under musculoskeletal rating rules, even when measured motion is not otherwise compensable.
Paired organs
Special rules that may treat certain combinations of service-connected and non-service-connected impairment in paired organs or extremities as compensable.
Pending decision approval
An older claim-status label indicating that a proposed decision awaited an internal review or authorization step.
Period of war
Dates Congress has defined as wartime service periods for certain VA programs. The term does not necessarily mean the person served in combat.
Permanent and total
A total service-connected evaluation considered reasonably certain to continue for life, often shown as P&T and tied to possible ancillary benefits.
Predetermination
The notice-and-response process VA generally uses before taking certain adverse actions, such as reducing a benefit, when due-process protections apply.
Preparation for decision
An older status label indicating that evidence development appeared complete and the claim was ready for rating review.
Preparation for notification
An older status label indicating that VA was completing the notice and payment steps after a decision had been prepared.
Prestabilization rating
A temporary total or 50 percent evaluation that may be assigned soon after discharge when an unstable service-connected disability requires recovery.
Presumptive condition
A listed disability VA may associate with qualifying service, exposure, or status without requiring the usual direct medical nexus proof.
Presumptive service connection
A legal path that supplies the relationship to service when the claimant meets the rule's service and diagnosis requirements.
Priority processing
Expedited handling available in certain circumstances, such as terminal illness, severe financial hardship, homelessness, advanced age, or specified honors.
Probative value
The persuasive weight of evidence based on factors such as accuracy, expertise, firsthand knowledge, consistency, and quality of reasoning.
Protected rating
An evaluation or service-connection status that receives added protection after specified time periods, subject to exceptions such as fraud.
PTSD stressor
The traumatic event or circumstances offered as the in-service basis for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Pyramiding
The prohibited practice of compensating the same symptom or functional impairment more than once under different diagnostic codes.
Radiation-exposed veteran
A statutory or regulatory category for Veterans who participated in specified radiation-risk activities, which can trigger special presumptions.
Range of motion
The measured movement of a joint, usually recorded in degrees and considered together with pain and functional loss in many musculoskeletal ratings.
Rating codesheet
An internal summary listing service-connected conditions, diagnostic codes, evaluations, effective dates, and related rating information.
Rating decision
VA's formal determination on service connection, evaluation, effective date, and other benefit issues, accompanied by reasons and review rights.
Rating reduction
A VA action lowering an evaluation when evidence and legal requirements support the change. Notice and stabilization protections may apply.
Rating Veterans Service Representative
A VA adjudicator, often called an RVSR or rater, who evaluates evidence and prepares rating decisions.
Regional office
A Veterans Benefits Administration location that processes benefits work and provides services. It may be called an RO or VARO.
Remand
An order sending an issue back for additional development, correction, or a new decision rather than finally granting or denying it.
Schedule for Rating Disabilities
The criteria in 38 C.F.R. Part 4 used to assign disability percentages based on average impairment in earning capacity.
Secondary service connection
Recognition of a disability caused or aggravated by an already service-connected condition.
Service connection
VA's recognition that a disability is linked to qualifying military service, making it eligible for evaluation and possible compensation.
Service treatment records
Medical and dental records created during military service, commonly abbreviated STRs.
Severance of service connection
VA's termination of service-connected status after meeting a demanding legal standard and providing required due process.
SMC-K
A special monthly compensation rate commonly associated with anatomical loss or loss of use of specified organs or body parts.
SMC-L
A special monthly compensation level that may apply to aid-and-attendance needs or certain severe combinations of disability.
SMC-S
A special monthly compensation level based on statutory rating combinations or being permanently housebound because of service-connected disabilities.
Special issue
An internal marker alerting VA staff that a claim involves a particular law, exposure, program, or processing instruction.
Special monthly compensation
Additional compensation above ordinary schedular rates for qualifying severe disabilities, loss of use, aid-and-attendance needs, or specified combinations.
Staged rating
Different percentage evaluations assigned for separate periods when the severity of a disability changed during the claim period.
Statement of the case
A legacy-appeal document explaining the evidence, laws, and reasons supporting VA's decision after a timely disagreement.
Station of jurisdiction
The VA office or processing station currently assigned responsibility for a claim or task.
Subsequent development
An additional evidence request or follow-up action after VA's initial development did not produce everything needed to decide the claim.
Supplemental claim
A decision-review option that allows new and relevant evidence after a prior VA decision.
Survivors pension
A needs-based benefit for qualifying surviving spouses and unmarried dependent children of certain wartime Veterans.
TDIU
A benefit paying at the 100 percent rate when service-connected disabilities prevent substantially gainful employment and the legal requirements are met.
TDRL
The military Temporary Disability Retired List for members whose disabling condition is not yet stable enough for a final fitness determination.
Temporary total rating
A time-limited 100 percent VA evaluation that may apply during qualifying hospitalization, surgery recovery, immobilization, or another specified circumstance.
TERA
A toxic exposure risk activity considered when VA evaluates exposure-related claims and whether a medical examination or opinion is required.
Title 38 CFR
The section of the Code of Federal Regulations containing many rules for VA benefits, adjudication, pensions, and disability ratings.
Treating physician opinion
An opinion from a clinician who has treated the claimant. VA weighs its supporting facts and reasoning rather than automatically giving it controlling weight.
VA claims backlog
Pending claims that exceed VA's chosen age threshold for backlog reporting. The threshold and totals are workload measures, not individual deadlines.
VA Form 10182
The Decision Review Request used to appeal an eligible decision to the Board of Veterans' Appeals and select a Board docket.
VA Form 20-0995
The Decision Review Request used to file a Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence or identify qualifying evidence for VA to obtain.
VA Form 20-0996
The Decision Review Request used to ask for Higher-Level Review of an eligible VA decision.
VA Form 21-0781
A statement form used to provide information about traumatic events supporting certain mental-health claims, including PTSD.
VA Form 21-0966
The paper Intent to File form for compensation, pension, or survivors pension and DIC, subject to VA's current filing rules.
VA Form 21-10210
A lay or witness statement form for facts someone personally knows about a claim.
VA Form 21-22
The form used to appoint a recognized Veterans Service Organization as a claimant's representative.
VA Form 21-4138
A general Statement in Support of Claim form used for written information when a more specific form is not required.
VA Form 21-4142
An authorization allowing VA to request relevant records from a private medical provider or other custodian.
VA Form 21-4192
A request for employment information that VA commonly sends to former employers when developing an unemployability claim.
VA Form 21-526EZ
The application for disability compensation and related compensation benefits.
VA Form 21-674
A request for approval of school attendance used for a qualifying dependent child age 18 or older.
VA Form 21-686c
A declaration used to add or remove dependents for certain VA benefits.
VA Form 21-8940
The Veteran's application for increased compensation based on unemployability.
VA pension
A needs-based monthly benefit for eligible wartime Veterans who meet age or disability, income, net-worth, and service requirements.
VA rating criteria terms
Words and phrases in the rating schedule that describe symptom severity, frequency, functional loss, or occupational and social impairment.
VBMS
The Veterans Benefits Management System, VA's electronic platform for storing and processing much of the disability claims record.
Veterans Benefits Administration
The VA administration responsible for disability compensation, pension, education, home loan, insurance, and several other benefit programs.
Veterans Health Administration
The VA administration that operates the national health-care system and related clinical services.
Veterans Law Judge
An attorney appointed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals who conducts hearings and decides appeals.
Veterans Service Organization
An organization that may provide benefit education, advocacy, and accredited representation; many offer claim help at no charge.
Veterans Service Representative
A VA employee who develops and processes benefit claims. A VSR is different from a VSO representative chosen by a claimant.
VMET
The Verification of Military Experience and Training document, also called DD Form 2586, which summarizes service occupations and training for civilian career use.
Willful misconduct
Deliberate or reckless wrongdoing that directly causes injury or disease and can bar benefits for the resulting disability under VA rules.
Zero percent rating
VA recognizes the condition as service connected but assigns a noncompensable evaluation. It can still matter for health care, future increases, and secondary claims.
No matching term found. Try the acronym, a form number, or a shorter phrase.
Keep researching
Move from a definition to the governing source.
Use the official rule or VA instruction for the details that control your situation.
Put the terminology in context.
See the full claim sequence, find a form, or review the rating criteria for a condition.