Hello, I'm attorney Allison Reddick, and today I'm going to give you a simple breakdown of a rating code sheet.
What it means where you can find it.
In all of the different sections of it, you receive a decision from the Veterans Administration.
, you receive a notice of action letter, which basically finalizes your decision.
You receive a rating decision, which decisions that were made, whether you were service connected,
whether you were granted to higher rating, your effective date.
And then the third piece, which is often missing is the rating code sheet.
And.
This is the most important part in my opinion, because when you receive a decision from the va, you get them a
notice of action letter and they include the rating decision, which gives you the write out of the decision that they made.
But the code sheet is really where you can figure out.
What your effective date is, what the length of the claim has been, your combined rating, and
if you have any levels of spec, special monthly compensation.
So the rating code sheet really gives you a roadmap of.
, what conditions you're service connected for, what conditions you're not
service connected for, and what your ratings are in your combined ratings.
So I really focus on the rating sheet because when I review a claim, that's the first piece of paper that I look at,
um, because it will give me a roadmap to help understand where in the process.
The veteran is what rating they're at to make sure that they can qualify for certain additional benefits and
what individual ratings they are for each service connected condition, as well as what conditions they're
not service connected for and that they have applied for in the past.
And I think that's very important because a lot of times veterans may
have applied for something 10, 20 years ago that they forget about.
And this should be included in the rating sheet.
Um, so basically going through the rating.
At the top, it won't say a code sheet, but you'll be able to recognize it and we can show a picture of that, of what it is.
Um, at the very top, it'll say rating decision, um, but since it lists out the different criteria and what
you're subject to compensation for and the diagnostic criteria, that's how you'll be able to recognize.
Um, it will include your power of attorney if you have enough power of attorney or not.
And this is very important because a lot of times the VA will forget to copy your power of attorney on
a document and they are required to give the power of attorney as well as the veteran copies of the decisions.
So issues that.
Often run into is the veteran will move and they won't get a copy of the decision.
The power of attorney won't be copied on the decision as well, and they'll miss their appeal date.
And so not having that copy on it, the copy of the attorney on it, would be
a way for you to say that the missed appeal date, um, is not valid because.
We did not receive our notice of the decision and our ability to respond to it.
So we really want to make sure we pay attention to receiving this sheet.
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
And sometimes it's not always.
in the packet, um, where I always see it when, when I see a rating decision
come out, I only see the notice of action letter in the rating decision.
I don't know if sometimes they'll attach it and sometimes they won't.
But the place that you're going to find it always is in your claims file.
Okay.
And then what are we looking for on the code sheet?
As someone who's just like, we have it, we've gone through the process of making sure it hasn't been sent to the wrong.
what is it specifically that are some key areas of the code sheet?
that we're looking at to say, Hey, here's where I can get information and know if I need to bump this appeal up or not.
So there are sections that I would say is more pertinent to
the attorney and sections that are more pertinent to the veteran.
To the veteran, it would be what you're subject to compensation for.
And so under subject to compensation, they will include every condition that you are connected for.
It will include your current rating.
It'll include any past ratings and the dates for those.
It will basically show you if you got service connected for diabetes in 2006, 10%, but then in 2010 you
started medication, which would be an indication for a higher rating.
You would be able to tell that there was a change there because you went from 10% to 20% when your medication was added.
That's.
Complicates it too, because let's say you were put on medication in 2010, you were receiving treatment through
the VA and they didn't increase your rating, or you had a pending claim
for something else, and there was evidence of a higher evaluation.
Kind of shows you.
there, there's an error there, basically.
Additionally, for veterans, which is a little, going a little further,
is every condition that you're connected for, it will have a code.
And so the code is you.
The diagnostic criteria.
You can go online and look at the all of the diagnostic criteria that the VA uses, and in that it will show you the require.
For every rating.
So let's say that you are service connected for a mental health condition.
Pretty sure the diagnostic criteria is 8 510.
You're at 30% and you feel that you should have a higher evaluation.
So you can go online, just Google VA diagnostic criteria, compensation benefits, and I will control fine 8, 5,
10, and that will take me to the mental health ratings and it will say 10%.
This is what.
The symptoms are for 10%, 30%.
This is the symptoms for that 50, 70, and a hundred.
So by looking at that and seeing, okay, I'm at 30% and I feel like I deserve a higher evaluation, you can look
to see if any of the symptoms in the higher criteria you suffer from those.
And then that could be an indication that you may want to file for an increased rating.
So that is one way the code sheet is important, so you can figure
out how VA is rating you and what the criteria is that they're using.
And the only way you're going to be able to figure it that out is the
code sheet, because that's where the diagnostic criteria are listed.
And then if we don't have our code sheet, how do we go about getting it?
Did you, so basically, the way to get it is to ask for your claims file.
It can take a while.
It's a foyer request, freedom of Information Act request where you
request all of your documents from the VA and they send them to you on a cd.
Or if you can access it online, you can download your eFolder.
And that is, Every document you've ever filed to va, every piece
of evidence, every compensation and pension examination.
every decision, any document that you've sent to VA should be in there.
And anything that they've sent to you or haven't sent to you should be in there.
So under the subject for compensation, the next section is your combined evaluation for compensation.
And so basically above it shows you your, in your individual percentages for each condition.
So let's say you're service connected for diabetes.
But you also have the secondary conditions of retinopathy, which is issues with your eyes.
Peripheral neuropathy in your lower extremities.
So you would have a rating for your right leg.
You would have a rating for your left leg and your upper extremities.
A rating for your right arm.
Your left arm.
So basically you have all of these different ratings and.
In another video, we can explain how VA math works.
Yeah.
But the closer you get to a hundred percent, the harder it is to get to a hundred percent.
And so that's where the combined Evaluation for Compensation section comes in, because it will show you
how all of those ratings together combined and what your combined rating is, and from what date.
If you have a 80% rating from January 1st.
2019, and this is still an open claim.
Well, when you're thinking about other benefits like individual unemployability, that kind of gives you notice that I
may potentially qualify for individual unemployability because for individual unemployability, you have to have
at least a 70% combined rating with at least one condition being 40%.
But basically what I look for is do you have 70% or higher?
If you have 70% or.
You potentially could qualify for individual unemployability.
It will also show you bilateral factors if that's applied, which basically means
if you have conditions that are for the opposite extremity, both of them.
So I have neuropathy in my right arm and in my left arm since it's something that ex.
Affects both sides of my body.
They apply a bilateral factor, which basically gives you an
extra percentage because it's affecting both sides of your body.
So you can get that for both arms.
You can get that for both legs.
You can get that for both eyes.
Anything where you have two of you can apply the bilateral factor and then underneath.
Is any special monthly compensation you have.
So this is where you are getting additional benefits that are separate from your service connected conditions.
So loss of use conditions would be there, which would be S M C K, and you can see.
Listed, it'll list the letter of special monthly compensation that you have and what it is.
So if you have S M C K for loss of use of your hands, except for that would probably be SM c M.
So one hand, let's say one hand, it would say SM C K entitled to monthly compensation, and that would be showing
that you're getting an additional compensation on top of your combined rating that you're getting by month.
S M C L would be if you're getting aid and at.
So basically if you're applying for a benefit where you need someone to help you with your activities of daily
living and they say you qualify for that, it would list it as S M C L.
And this is something that you can also go online, Google Special
Monthly Compensation criteria, and it will show you all of the letters.
And basically, if you have loss of use of something, you should see an S M C K there.
Make sure you're getting that compensation.
S M C L.
It will show you that as.
And through S M C T, um, which is an entirely different video, but that is important too because you
may be granted something, but your code sheet is going to show you if you're actually getting paid for it.
And so you wanna make sure everything's included in there.
Underneath any special monthly compensations you have would
be the conditions that you're not service connected for.
So this is important because it should show anything that you've ever applied for.
And the date that it was initially denied.
Um, this is important if you have, let's say you're a Bluewater
Navy veteran and you filed for a heart condition back in 2015.
You recently reapplied for it because the Bluewater Navy Act.
Was passed, and so now you have all of these veterans reapplying for benefits, and so since you have
that presumptive exposure, you can get your original claim reopened.
If I have someone come to me and they're a Bluewater Navy veteran and I'm trying to.
Get them all the presumptive conditions.
I'll look at the non-service connected conditions to see if they applied originally before Bluewater Navy was
passed for any presumptive conditions like heart conditions, prostate cancer, diabetes, things like that.
Because if I'm reapplying in 2022 and I get that effective date, I apply.
January 1st, 2022.
They grant me for a heart condition, but I originally applied in 2015.
Then they need to reopen that original claim to see if they can service connected back then, because since you have that
presumptive exposure to Agent Orange, you can reopen some of those old claims.
It's also important, uh, the non-service connected conditions because I can see.
What conditions you've applied for and if there's any way I can get them service connected, I will look
at the conditions listed and then go through your service medical records.
Let's say you filed for a knee condition in 2005.
It was denied and you never filed for it again, but you've consistently had knee problems since service.
And I look in your service records and I see you were in a motor vehicle accident where you.
Complained of pain to your knee and on your exit exam, you said you had issues with your knee and through lay statements
and such, we can show that you've continuously had issues with your knee.
Well, maybe you didn't know that it was in your service medical records and VA missed that as well.
Then that may be something that I wanna reopen to try to get you service connected for.
Basically the non-service connected condition section is showing you all the conditions that you've applied for and
that you're not receiving compensation for and basically whether, uh, they are things that I wanna reopen and can help you get.
So under the, Non-service connected conditions.
If you've had individual unemployability denied before, it will say that there.
And then under that are ancillary decisions, and these are seen.
Less often.
These are veterans who apply for automobile and adaptive equipment.
So let's say you have complete loss of use of your legs, but you still want to be able to drive around, you can apply.
For adaptive equipment to a vehicle or get a stipend to buy a new vehicle that
would allow you to drive with controls rather than the normal gas pedal.
So if you were granted that, it would show that there or entitlement
to special adaptive housing, which similar situation you need to.
Modifications to your house.
Let's say you need a guardrail in your restroom or you need a ramp to get your
wheelchair into the house, and these are due to service connected conditions.
You can apply for these benefits as well, and this is where they would be listed.
If you are entitled to them, but I don't see those as often.
But if it's something that you've applied for and you were granted, it should be listed there.
So basically that was a very simple breakdown of the rating code sheet.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
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questions or if there are any other videos that you would like to see.
I hope you all have a great day.