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Learn what this law means for Veterans and their survivors.
Use this program to get a faster decision by submitting evidence along with your claim.
Learn about education programs and compare benefits by school.
Get help transitioning to a civilian career and matching your skills and experiences to VA job opportunities.
Sign up for direct deposit or a pre-paid debit card.
Find out how we can help you or a Veteran you care about connect with VA and local resources 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
VALife is our new life insurance program for Veterans with service-connected disabilities.
Locate a grave, search for cemeteries, and find benefits information and resources.
Download letters like your eligibility or award letter for certain benefits.
View the FY 2024 report that includes VA accomplishments with taxpayer dollars and the challenges that remain.
We provide compensation and pension exams if we need more information to decide your claim.
During Step 3 of our claim process, we may ask you to have an exam. We may request this to help us determine if a claimed disability is related to your service or to determine the severity of your disability.
Not every claim requires an exam. It depends on what medical evidence is already in your file and what you included with your application. If we ask you to have an exam, we'll schedule your appointment at one of our facilities or with one of our contracted medical examiners.
A contractor will contact you by email or phone to schedule your appointment. If they can't reach you in one of these ways, they'll schedule your appointment and mail you the details about it.
We use several contractors to provide claim exams:
Note: The contractor list here isn't an official recommendation or endorsement. If we determine that you need an exam, we'll assign a contractor to you based on location and availability. You can't request a specific contractor.
During the claims process, we may contact you through an email notification system called govDelivery. We'll email you to tell you in advance about phone calls and text messages you'll get from our contractors about your disability exam.
This email informs you that one of our contractors will contact you to schedule an exam. To receive email notifications from us, please provide a valid email address on your claim form or call us at 1-800-827-1000.
If you think we shouldn't have contacted you, or you would like to confirm that you need to have a claim exam, please call us at 1-800-827-1000. You can also contact your nearest regional office.
If you have additional questions about what to expect during an exam, please visit our claim exam page.
If you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, visit VeteransCrisisLine.net for more resources.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington DC 20420
Last updated February 14, 2024
If you are a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, connect with our caring, qualified responders for confidential help. Many of them are Veterans themselves.
Get more resources at VeteransCrisisLine.net.
Last updated: February 14, 2024