Va’s duty to assist | veterans affairs

WHAT’S “DUTY TO ASSIST”? This means that we’re required to help you gather evidence to support your claim for VA benefits. We’ll make a reasonable effort to help you get these types of

evidence: * VA medical records  * Military service records  * Other types of federal records * Private medical records, like reports from a non-VA hospital or from your private health care

providers You’ll need to tell us what type of records you want us to gather for you, the dates of the records, and where we can get them.  To help us decide your claim, we may also ask you

to have a claim exam (also called a C&P exam). Or we may request a medical opinion.  Learn about VA claim exams HOW WE DEFINE A “REASONABLE EFFORT”  FOR VA, MILITARY, AND OTHER TYPES OF

FEDERAL RECORDS, we’ll continue to make requests until we get the records you need. We’ll stop trying only if we’re reasonably sure the records don’t exist. FOR PRIVATE RECORDS, we’ll make

at least one follow-up request to try to get your records. If we can’t get the records you need, we’ll tell you why we’re having trouble and if you need to do anything. PERMISSION TO ACCESS

YOUR PRIVATE MEDICAL RECORDS If you’d like our help gathering your private medical records, you’ll need to give us permission to get them. Fill out an Authorization to Disclose Information

to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Form 21-4142). You can submit this form online. Or you can download it and submit by mail. Submit an authorization online for us to get your medical

information (VA Form 21-4142) Get VA Form 21-4142 to download WHAT KINDS OF CLAIMS WILL VA HELP ME GATHER EVIDENCE FOR? We’ll help you gather evidence for an initial claim or a Supplemental

Claim. But if you have new evidence for a Board Appeal, you’ll have to gather and submit that yourself. WHAT’S A DUTY-TO-ASSIST ERROR? If we don’t make a reasonable effort to help you get

the evidence you need for your initial claim or Supplemental Claim, that’s a duty-to-assist error.  Sometimes this type of error means that we didn’t get medical records you told us about.

Or it could mean that we didn’t request a claim exam or medical opinion you needed. We may find this type of error when we’re reviewing the decision you received on a claim because you

requested a Higher-Level Review or Board Appeal. WHAT HAPPENS IF WE FIND A DUTY-TO-ASSIST ERROR? IF WE FIND AN ERROR DURING A HIGHER-LEVEL REVIEW, we’ll close the review and open a new claim

to gather the missing evidence. We’ll also send you a letter to tell you the steps we’ll take to fix the error. Then we’ll help you get the missing evidence, and decide your case based on

this new evidence. IF WE FIND AN ERROR DURING A BOARD APPEAL, we’ll close the appeal and send your case back (also called “remand”) to a regional office to gather the missing evidence. We’ll

also send you a letter to tell you the steps we’ll take to fix the error. After we gather the missing evidence, we’ll decide your case.