Are Claim Decisions Made Individual or As a Group When Submitting More Than One?

[Sharm]

I am preparing multiple "New" claims to be submitted on the VA Form 21-526EZ. 

• Does the VA make an individual decision/rating on each claim; then sends you a notification for the individual claim that's rated  (or)
• Waits till all the decision/rating for the claims submitted on the VA Form 21-526EZ to be rated?
• If I have an Intent To File Claim on File, once (1) of the claim has been decided upon or rated; will the rest of the claims on the form be treated as "Normal Claims" (or)
• Will they all have the same date as indicated on the Intent To File?

[GBArmy]

Hi Sharm What ever you submit goes against the ITF; if you submit 3, then all three will have the same effective date if you win. Not sure what you refer to as "normal." An ITF is a notice to the VA that you are submitting a claim and that notice "locks in" your submittal date. In most cases, and there are exceptions for just about anything the VA does, all the disabilities you submit at the same time will be held and decided in the same notification letter. If you have an open claim, and then submit a new claim, it is a NEW claim. As additional claim, it can be combined with the first claim and travel together, so it will slow down the first claim in most cases. They have to see if the new one is in any way connected or effected by the jirst claim. If they are different types, say one is a supplemental claim with no additional evidence required and say a new claim that needs duty to assist, they can be separated. But,it's the VA's game and they play by their rules, sometimes. And sometimes, they don't follow their own rules. The best course of action may be to submit your ITF to protect your EED, but submit all of your claims together so they can be developed at the same time. It is controversial, but one more thing. I wouldn't use a shot gun approach; don't throw a dozen disabilities at them at once. It may lock in your EED, but it will likely take much, much longer to get decisions. I personally also believe that the VA sees the laundry list and may make it a little harder at getting you favorable decisions because of the effect on your overall combined rating. IMHO. Hope this helps. 

[Sharm]

3 minutes ago, GBArmy said:

Hi Sharm What ever you submit goes against the ITF; if you submit 3, then all three will have the same effective date if you win. Not sure what you refer to as "normal." An ITF is a notice to the VA that you are submitting a claim and that notice "locks in" your submittal date. In most cases, and there are exceptions for just about anything the VA does, all the disabilities you submit at the same time will be held and decided in the same notification letter. If you have an open claim, and then submit a new claim, it is a NEW claim. As additional claim, it can be combined with the first claim and travel together, so it will slow down the first claim in most cases. They have to see if the new one is in any way connected or effected by the jirst claim. If they are different types, say one is a supplemental claim with no additional evidence required and say a new claim that needs duty to assist, they can be separated. But,it's the VA's game and they play by their rules, sometimes. And sometimes, they don't follow their own rules. The best course of action may be to submit your ITF to protect your EED, but submit all of your claims together so they can be developed at the same time. It is controversial, but one more thing. I wouldn't use a shot gun approach; don't throw a dozen disabilities at them at once. It may lock in your EED, but it will likely take much, much longer to get decisions. I personally also believe that the VA sees the laundry list and may make it a little harder at getting you favorable decisions because of the effect on your overall combined rating. IMHO. Hope this helps. 

Thanks for your help and support GBArmy, great advice, didn't think about "Laundry List" may slow the process down. Thanks again.

[brokensoldier244th]

It doesn’t make it any harder- it’s easier to have one claim multiple issues than 25 claims 1 issue each. I get some joker that reads on the Internet To file each individually cause it’s” faster “ well, not really, because most or all of them are waiting on they the same medical records or evidence- doctors don’t send a single file page or 3  file each unique disability , they send a digital or paper file of everything.
 

So, what do you think takes longer- scanning one 900 page medical file or 25 of them? The request to the provider goes out for each claim filed, so they could potentially get 25 requests. they don’t like this
 

The records go to more than one place to get scanned in to VA if they are physical. If they are digital it’s not much faster because I still have to read through each of them (each submission)  because of duty to assist to verify that there isn’t anything in there for your claim that’s different but helpful. Sometime two similar looking sets of medical files From the same provider has different stuff in them. 
 

Each doc set is its own Thing legally, so they all have to get looked at. Guess what I did yesterday for 5 hours on one guy? 

[broncovet]

I agree with Broken Soldier.  If you have a condition that you think was caused by service, apply for it at your earliest convience.  Remember, tho, if its asymptomatic, its likely your highest rating will be zero percent for it.  

However, this SC condition, rated at zero percent, can get worse and you wont have to redocument your caluza elements to get an increase because those will already established when you got SC at zero percent.  

In answer to your question, if you applied for 10 issues, the VA can decide those all at once, they can "defer" one or more waiting on evidence, or they can decide one or two issues and "just plain forget" about the rest.  

VA "not adjuticating" an issue happens so often the CAVC has a name for it.  Its called "deemed denial".  If this happens to you, I strongly suggest you contact VA if they failed to adjuticate one or more issues you applied for.   

[brokensoldier244th]

5 minutes ago, broncovet said:

I agree with Broken Soldier.  If you have a condition that you think was caused by service, apply for it at your earliest convience.  Remember, tho, if its asymptomatic, its likely your highest rating will be zero percent for it.  

However, this SC condition, rated at zero percent, can get worse and you wont have to redocument your caluza elements to get an increase because those will already established when you got SC at zero percent.  

In answer to your question, if you applied for 10 issues, the VA can decide those all at once, they can "defer" one or more waiting on evidence, or they can decide one or two issues and "just plain forget" about the rest.  

VA "not adjuticating" an issue happens so often the CAVC has a name for it.  Its called "deemed denial".  If this happens to you, I strongly suggest you contact VA if they failed to adjuticate one or more issues you applied for.   

Plus if its 0% its still SC, so treatable for free at VA. 

[broncovet]

Yes, broken soldier and, "if" you have multiple 0 percent ratings, you can be "bumped" to 10 percent.