Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Released New Disability Compensation Questionnaires

November 4, 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is in its infant steps in reforming, revamping, automating, and rebuilding their disability compensation claim process. As part of that process, the VA is issuing 79 new disability benefits questionnaires. The first 3 questionnaires are to be used by the physicians of those veterans applying for disability compensation through the VA. 

One of the steps in the reformation of the system is eliminating the incredible backlog of disability claims. The VA is changing how they do business by making the initial claim processing easier. It is hoped this will ultimately result in the VA spending less time on processing and more time on eliminating the backlog.

The first 3 questionnaires will be used as guides for both personal and VA physicians. They will use the questionnaires and will be responsible for submitting the most common medical conditions from which veterans are suffering. These physician questionnaires are one of about 36 VA initiatives currently in place to help eliminate the backlog and improve the disability claims process.

Physicians working with the VA's automated system enter very specific information in a very uniform manner. These questionnaires will allow the physicians to collect the information they need in the way they need. Private physicians will submit the same forms as VA physicians so all the information is processed the same way across the system no matter where the information originates.

The first 3 questionnaires will cover the Agent Orange presumptive disease list and will focus on Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease, and B-cell leukemia. These diseases became presumptive on October 30, 2010. These questionnaires should work well in streamlining disability claims processing for those diseases on the presumptive list.