VA C&P Exams Explained: What Veterans Actually Need
CCK Law: Our Vital Role in Veterans Law
Compensation and Pension (C&P) exams are medical evaluations the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) often has veterans undergo as part of the disability claims process. These exams are intended to confirm service connection and help VA determine the severity of a disability to assign an appropriate rating percentage.
If you are a veteran seeking to prepare for an upcoming C&P exam, this article will help guide you through the essentials of the exam, including what to bring with you and basic tips on how to communicate effectively.
Key points of this article include:
- C&P exams are different than many other medical exams in that they are not focused on treatment or management of a condition. Instead, they are designed purely to evaluate a veteran’s disability for the purpose of assigning compensation and other benefits.
- Veterans should bring a form of identification with them to the exam, along with symptom notes, treatment records, supportive devices, and lay statements pertaining to the veteran’s disability.
- During a C&P exam, veterans should focus on honestly and clearly describing the symptoms of their disability and how it affects their everyday lives. Once the exam is finished, veterans should request access to their exam results for review.
What Is the Purpose of a VA C&P Exam?
VA C&P exams have several purposes, including:
- To confirm a veteran’s medical diagnosis.
- To establish service connection by drawing a connection between the veteran’s service and their disability (if service connection has not already been established).
- To evaluate how severely the veteran’s condition affects their day-to-day functioning.
- To determine what percentage rating would be appropriate to assign for the veteran’s condition, based on how impaired they are.
“Veterans should know that C&P exams are not for treating injuries or disabilities,” says Bradley Hennings, partner at CCK Law. “It’s VA doing an evaluation. These exams help VA evaluate how your conditions affect your ability to function, what percentage rating would be proper, and whether these disabilities are due to your service.”
In other words, veterans should not go into these exams expecting to develop any kind of treatment plan to manage their disabilities. A C&P exam is purely meant to evaluate the severity and eligibility of a veteran’s condition for the purpose of assigning VA disability compensation.
Watch CCK Law Partners Robert Chisholm and Bradley Hennings discuss the best tips for successful exams:
FAQ: Why Didn’t VA Schedule a C&P Exam?
The Acceptable Clinical Evidence (ACE) process allows VA to decide a claim without scheduling an exam when sufficient medical evidence already exists. In other words, VA will not ask a veteran to have a claim exam if there is enough medical evidence in the file to support the claim, instead following the ACE process and reviewing medical records.
What Should I Bring to My VA C&P Exam?
One of the most important things a veteran should bring to a C&P exam is a form of identification to make it easier for the veteran to prove who they are. Some other items that could also be beneficial to bring to the exam include:
- Symptom notes or logs describing the veteran’s specific day-to-day symptoms.
- Relevant private treatment records and medical opinions from the veteran’s treating doctor.
- Braces, canes, hearing aids, prosthetics, and other supportive devices that the veteran normally uses.
- Lay statements from friends, family, or fellow service members attesting to the severity of the veteran’s condition.
“Now, that all being said, the C&P examiner may consider these things that you’ve brought, or they may not,” says Bradley Hennings. “You never know. But it’s better to be a little overinclusive and give them a full picture of your disability and how it’s affecting you and the functional impacts on your day-to-day life.”
What Should I Do to Make My VA C&P Exam Successful?
There are several actions veterans can take to make their C&P exam as successful as it can be, including being specific and honest about their symptoms and asking for their exam results afterward to ensure their condition was accurately evaluated.
Be Specific and Thorough
Veterans should be as specific as possible about the severity of their symptoms and how they affect the veteran’s day-to-day life. Some aspects of their disability they should communicate to the examiner include:
- The presence of flare-ups that significantly worsen the veteran’s symptoms.
- How the condition affects the veteran’s ability to work and perform the daily actions of living (e.g., dressing, bathing, and eating).
- Whether the veteran’s symptoms fluctuate day by day (i.e., if the veteran has some days that are better than others), and how many “bad days” they have versus “good days.”
- Whether there are any secondary conditions the disability may have contributed to.
“Describe the functional limitations in your life,” says Robert Chisholm, founding partner at CCK Law. “For example: ‘I can only stand for ten minutes at a time without experiencing pain.’ Or ‘I can only sit for thirty minutes without pain.’ If the pain varies based on weather, I would describe it. If you have good days and bad days, I would describe it. Say everything so that it’s on the record.”
Be Honest
Veterans should also strive to be honest about their disability and its symptoms, as this will lend itself to the veteran’s credibility in the eyes of the examiner and VA. Specifically, during the exam, the veteran should:
- Be honest about any medication or treatment they are undergoing, and its effectiveness.
- Avoid making claims that contradict the veteran’s medical records or claims file.
- Be upfront and willing to provide any information the examiner asks for.
Ask for Your Exam Results Afterward
After a C&P exam, veterans should be sure to request their exam results from VA and carefully review them to refute any inaccuracies or mistakes the examiner might have included in their report.
“If you think the examiner is getting things wrong, then keep notes, keep track of that,” says Bradley Hennings. “And then after the examination, you can go and try to correct that record. You can get a copy of the examination by requesting it from VA and you can write in and explain all the reasons why they got it wrong or some of the irregularities during that examination.”
Veterans can request C&P exam results by submitting VA Form 20-10206 (Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act Request).
What Else Can I Do to Increase the Chances of a Successful C&P Exam?
Some other tips veterans should consider to make their C&P exam successful include:
- Be sure to attend the exam: Missing a C&P exam can have serious consequences for a veteran’s disability claim, including having that claim denied outright. Veterans should make the effort to know when and where they must be to attend their exam.
- Prepare ahead of time: Veterans should also consider the most important points they want to convey to their examiner. This can involve practicing describing their symptoms aloud or bringing notes to the exam to remind them of key areas about their disability they want to touch upon.
- Consider bringing a friend or family member: Having a friend or family member by the veteran’s side can lend emotional support and confidence during a C&P exam. If this loved one is someone who spends a lot of time with the veteran, they can also help the veteran describe their daily symptoms.
What Should I Avoid Doing During My VA C&P Exam?
There are several things veterans should avoid doing during their C&P exam to minimize the chances of a problem occurring. For instance, veterans should generally try to be nonconfrontational with their examiner and should not exaggerate or downplay their symptoms.
Avoid Being Confrontational with the Examiner
A C&P exam is not the correct time to debate with a VA examiner. This will likely only waste time that the veteran could be using to better convey their overall disability picture to VA.
“Don’t argue or debate the law or the ratings with the examiner,” says Bradley Hennings. “That’s not going to serve you well. You want to stay focused on your individual situation, again, the functional impacts and the symptoms that you’re suffering from.”
If the veteran feels like the examiner is either ignoring them or getting key details wrong, then the best course of action would be to request the C&P exam results after the fact and mark down any mistakes the examiner made. This will help to better refute the examiner’s report and correct the record.
Do Not Downplay or Exaggerate Symptoms
In accordance with being honest during a C&P exam, veterans should avoid exaggerating or downplaying their symptoms. It might come as natural to brush off any of the examiner’s questions about pain or discomfort, but doing so is unlikely to help a veteran’s case.
“First of all, don’t exaggerate, but be specific and be honest,” says Robert Chisholm. “Do not minimize your symptoms. Avoid saying, ‘I’m fine today,’ without explaining fluctuation. You might be having a good day that day, but yesterday you may have been in bed all day because the pain was so excruciating.”
To accurately assess the severity of a veteran’s disability, the examiner will need a clear picture of how much it impacts the veteran’s life. Exaggerating those symptoms might damage the veteran’s credibility, while downplaying them might lead to the veteran receiving a lower rating than they deserve.
Want to learn the most important dos and don’ts of C&P exams? Watch CCK Law Partner Maura Black explain essential tips and tricky pitfalls:
What Else Should I Avoid Doing During My C&P Exam?
Veterans should bear these tips in mind when attending their C&P exams, to avoid making common mistakes:
- Do not make assumptions about what the examiner knows. While the VA examiner will be provided a veteran’s claim file prior to the exam, not every examiner will have the time to review it before the veteran arrives. Therefore, veterans should not assume the examiner will know the history of their disability, so they should be prepared to explain the entire story to the examiner.
- Do not bring new claim forms like the 21-526EZ. A VA C&P exam is not the time or place to present any new claim forms, and the examiner likely will not know what to do with such a form, if they are handed one. Any official forms a veteran wants to submit should be sent to their local VA regional office, not the examiner or the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
- Do not record the exam without permission from VA. Per regulatory provision 38 CFR 1.218, there are limits placed on a veteran’s ability to record their C&P exam. Veterans should request permission to do so from VA before the exam if they wish to avoid potential consequences.
Was Your VA Disability Claim Denied? Contact CCK Law
If your VA disability claim was denied either due to a C&P exam or otherwise, the dedicated team at Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick may be able to help. Our VA-accredited attorneys have secured favorable outcomes for 98.5 percent of our past clients before VA, assisting in the recovery of over $1 billion in wrongfully denied benefits.
Call CCK Law at 800-544-9144 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I not say at a VA C&P exam?
During a C&P exam, veterans should avoid arguing with the examiner and avoid exaggerating or downplaying their condition’s symptoms.
- Avoid argument or confrontation: Veterans should try not to argue, debate with, or otherwise get into a confrontation with their C&P examiner regarding laws or disability ratings. This will only waste time that would be better spent accurately conveying the veteran’s symptoms and functional limitations.
- Do not exaggerate or lie about symptoms: During a C&P exam, veterans should always be honest and forthright about their symptoms. Lying or exaggerating may contradict information in the veteran’s medical records, damaging their credibility and potentially leading to their claim being denied.
- Do not downplay or brush off symptoms: Veterans should also avoid downplaying the severity of their symptoms. They should try to abstain from using phrases like “I’m fine” when asked about pain or discomfort, as this may lead the examiner to assign a lower disability rating than the veteran deserves.
How do I pass a VA C&P exam?
Though there are no guarantees as to whether a veteran’s C&P exam will be beneficial to their claim, some tips to help them better prepare for the exam include:
- Know when and where the exam is taking place: Veterans should make every effort to arrive for their exam on time. Missing a C&P exam may result in their disability claim being denied outright.
- Prepare notes or main points ahead of time: It often benefits veterans to compose notes on the most important points they want to convey during their C&P exam. This can help improve confidence and ensure the examiner gets a fuller picture of the veteran’s condition.
- Be honest and specific during the exam: Veterans should be honest and specific about their symptoms. Lying may damage the veteran’s credibility, and being vague about answers may lead the examiner to make improper conclusions about the veteran’s disability.
- Consider bringing a friend or family member: Close friends or family members can often help during a C&P exam. They can provide emotional support, improve the veteran’s confidence, and offer insights on the veteran’s condition that they themselves might have forgotten.
- Ask VA for the exam results after it is finished: Veterans should always ask for their C&P exam results after the exam is concluded. Reviewing their results will grant them insight into the exam’s accuracy and potentially allow them to refute any points the examiner might have gotten wrong.
How long does a C&P exam last?
C&P exams can take anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour or longer to complete. Some disability claims may even be complex enough to cover several C&P exam sessions.
The length of the exam generally depends on the specifics of the veteran’s condition. Disabilities that are complex or harder to examine may take longer, while comparatively simple disabilities will likely take much less time.
