Assigned to rater meaning

[Phild523]

My claim has been going on since aug 2018. It has been a crazy road. I put in conditions that my vso thought I should all at once. There was an issue with ptsd tbi and determining which symptoms belong to which. Claim went to prep for decision. Rater kicked back and I went to three more cp exams. Exams went well. He said it was assigned to a rater. What does this actually mean?  It can mean anywhere right? Not just my regional office. Thanks guys.

[Vync]

A rater (properly referred to as a VA examiner, but not a medical examiner) is the individual who is processing your claim. They work in a VA Regional Office (VARO), review the evidence, and determines if it is sufficient to make a decision. If something is missing or insufficient, they may either ask you for more evidence or send you to a C&P exam. I had a situation where I had to go to another C&P exam just a few weeks after the first one for the same issue. This can happen if the examination is inadequate or not thorough. The rater will issue instructions to the C&P doc explaining what they need. If the C&P examiner is not certain which symptoms belong to each claimed disability, that can often cause additional C&P exams, but sometimes they can award a win based on benefit of the doubt. It sounds plausible that PTSD/TBI claims might require more clarification. The criteria for each rating is a bit odd and can overlap. It does stink that it is taking a long time, but it sounds like the rater may be trying to issue a fair decision. That's better than them issuing a rubber stamp denial and getting put in the appeal lanes.