Can anyone give me a general timeframe in which a rating decision can be expected after nexus has been established, medical evidence collected, and C&P exam completed and results recieved?

If the C and P is done and everything is in, It sould be as little as 3 weeks to 1 month.
I have also seen them take several months after the Exam.
If you have a good VSO, they are usually the first ones to find out. The see it before it leaves the Regional office.

So basically there is no definate answer as each claim is different.

J

deyjason,
Welcome to hadit.
How long ago were you separated from service ?
Is this an original claim ?
My guess is 1 to 18 months.
jmho,
carlie

Not sure which Regional Office you are dealing with, but your answers on here will vary greatly for that question. I know that in the RO where I work that our raters are scraping for claims that are "ready to rate". The decisions on smaller claims (1-3 issues) are usually done the day they hit the board. Larger claims (4+ issues) are taking a bit longer, but they are still not taking much more than a few days to a week to get a decision.

That is not always the case, however. It will pick up to the point that the raters take all of 60 days to render a decision. There have been a couple of new "pilot programs" that have recently been dropped on some of us or all of us developing cases (diagnostic code criteria and claimant checklists) that have eaten away at our time significantly in getting a case to the board.

Right now I am working "new" claims from Mid-December... I do have some older claims, but the number of those is about 25 right now, and they are claims "in progress". My overall number of claims right now is around 60 that are "new".

After the rating board decides your claim the representatives (VSO's) take a look at it to concur the decision. That can take up to a week or more. The claim then has to be promulgated, and the award is done (if any).

I worked an award last Wednesday, checked up on it today, and the money had already been sent out vis Direct Deposit. The veteran also has a brand new claim in as of Monday. That also slows things down a bit as I had just talked to him on the phone last Wednesday when I did his award. He was ecstatic about it ($14, 000+ retro and an increase from 30 to 80 percent).

Times will vary...I hope you are able to find out soon.

Thanks for all the feedback. My claim is with the Waco Regional office. Hopefully they are not too backlogged and I will have a decision soon.

Question, regards 'promulgate', just what does that mean? My rating was rated in December, dfas contacted and is now at VARO being 'promulgated'. I suspect it won't be long, just don't have a clear idea. Thanks for posting and nice to meet ya!.

Cg'up2009!

2 a: to make known or public the terms of (a proposed law) b: to put (a law) into action or force

That is Websters definition. Yours shouldn't take long if that is all that is left.

Thanks for the reply, got the definition, smiles, just wondering if VA promulgating means anything a bit more specific- maybe, getting any more signatures, pushing the 'Go' button at DFAS and adding initials and a stamp to the SOC envelope?

Have a good one,
Cg'up2009!

Signatures....no. The signatures are already done. The person doing your award will have to sign it, but that is pretty small.

Pushing the 'GO' button at DFAS...no. DFAS is usually something that we are waiting on...sometimes for hours or days.

Stamp on the SOC envelope...no, again. That says to me that you have an Appeal pending. They are a bit slower because of the volume of work, but promulgation time would be the same.

Sorry, my lady, no magic behind the word. Like I said...depends on the RO that has your claim.

If the BVA grants service connection, do they just send it back to the VRO for the rating work, or do they decide that?

Meddac,
I wish you were rating my claim!

When BVA makes a decision they send a copy of the court transcript to the veteran and to the VARO. The Regional office Appeals team then carries out that decision. It's a "172 Grant", and there are timelines that the RO has to work the decision. The veteran will usually receive the decision before the RO does, but depending on the Appeals team, it can be dealt with in an expediant and timely manner.

Good question. Used to be my position actually...to review the BVA decision and establish the grant in our system. The Appeals team has their own raters on staff to carry out the decision.

Thank you, I was guessing that was the case, nice to hear it from you though.

Hi, I saw something in your reply that surprised me. You said that you called the claimant and talking to him/her while you were granting their claim. I have never heard of raters calling claimants and informing them of grants and how much retro they are getting. I usually would expect the Representative to do that, not an actual rater. I guess it shows you are going above and beyond your call of duty.......


Jay