What to Expect at a Compensation and Pension (C&P) Examination

Veterans who have a service-connected illness, injury, or impairment can apply for disability compensation from the VA. The VA reviews your medical records for evidence of significant symptoms and functional limitations in order to assign you a disability rating percentage based on how severe your condition is. This often involves reviewing the results of a compensation and pension (C&P) examination.

Getting a phone call or letter from the VA asking you to attend a C&P exam is a routine part of the disability application process. Because C&P exams are so common, it's useful to know why the VA requests them and what to expect during them—especially if you're denied disability compensation and need to appeal.

What Is a C&P Exam?

"Comp and pension" examinations are doctor's appointments, usually conducted at a VA hospital or clinic, where your disabilities get evaluated. Unlike a regular doctor's visit, you won't be prescribed any medicine or given any medical treatment. Instead, the doctor will conduct a physical examination, ask you some questions, and possibly perform some medical tests. If you have a mental health disability, the doctor may ask you to complete some psychological tests.

C&P exams can last anywhere between 15 minutes to over an hour. After the examination has concluded, the doctor will write a report about your physical and mental conditions and send the report to the VA Regional Office where you submitted your application for benefits. The VA will then use this report to help determine whether your conditions are service-connected and, if so, what percentage they should be assigned according to the Schedule for Rating Disabilities.

Who Schedules the C&P Exam?

The VA Medical Center is responsible for sending a C&P exam notice to you with the date and time of the appointment. When you apply for benefits, make sure that the medical center where you go for treatment—not just your regional VA office—has your current address and phone number. That's because the VA Medical Center is responsible for setting up an appointment for your C&P exam, and the medical centers don't have access to important records at the VA Regional Offices.

If the VA Medical Center doesn't have your current contact information, you might miss the notice of your C&P exam—and if you don't show up, you may not be able to get it rescheduled. Hopefully, you'll just have to wait several months for another examination to get scheduled, but the VA can deny your application for benefits entirely as a result of missing the initial exam. You should let the VA know at least 48 hours in advance of the exam if you need to reschedule, which you can do by calling the number on your appointment letter.

How Do I Answer Questions at a C&P Examination?

It's important not to exaggerate your symptoms, but don't diminish them either. When the doctor asks you questions, be truthful. Explain exactly how your symptoms impact your life. This can be uncomfortable to discuss with an unfamiliar doctor, but it's crucial for your disability compensation claim that you're as open and honest as possible.

Even if you're frustrated by the questions or have a personal dislike of the doctor, you should strive to be courteous. However, if you had a bad experience or your examiner behaved inappropriately, the VA wants to know about it as soon as possible. You can report your concerns by giving feedback on the doctor's customer satisfaction survey, writing a letter and submitting it as part of your claim file, contacting the office that scheduled your exam, or calling the VA at 800-827-1000 (TTY: 711).

What Should I Bring to My C&P Exam?

You don't have to bring anything with you to your compensation and pension exam. The VA is supposed to send the doctor a copy of your claim file in advance of your C&P exam so that the doctor can review your medical records. If you have new, non-VA medical documents that you haven't sent to the VA yet (like recent clinical notes from your private physician or hospital admission and discharge records), you should submit them prior to the C&P exam. You can submit new non-VA records using the following methods:

• Upload them online using the VA claim status tool.
• Give them to your accredited representative or veteran service officer (VSO).
• Mail the records to your VA Regional Office.

If you bring new medical records to the C&P exam, the doctor may review them, but you'll still need to submit them to the VA yourself—the doctor won't be able to get them into your claim file for you. Limit any new records you bring to the exam to a few of the most important pages, such as the results of a lab test or recent MRI. You don't need to provide the C&P doctor with redundant information that's already included in your medical file.

What If the VA Didn't Give the C&P Doctor Your Records?

Occasionally, the VA fails to send a claims file for the doctor to review ahead of the examination. If this happens and you tell the doctor that you've been treated at the VA, they should be able to pull up your records on their computer. But if you've gotten medical treatment outside of the VA, the C&P examiner won't have access to those private providers—and they won't see any statements you've made about your disability that were submitted to the VA Regional Office. (Keep in mind that the VA has a duty to assist you in obtaining private medical records, and failure to do so is grounds for appellate review.)

If you live far away from a VA Medical Center, the VA may send you to a private physician for your C&P exam. In that case, if the VA doesn't send over your records, the doctor won't be able to access your treatment information on the computer at all. The compensation and pension examination will then have to be rescheduled.

What's In the Compensation and Pension Exam Report?

After the C&P exam, the doctor writes a report for the VA. This report usually includes information about your medical history and discusses how severe your symptoms are. Often the report will contain the doctor's opinion about whether your medical conditions are related to your military service or not. The report is then sent to the VA Regional Office that is handling your claim for disability compensation.

The doctor's report isn't the final word on whether or not you're qualified for benefits—that's up to employees at the VA Regional Office—but it does play a large role in the decision making process. While the C&P exam report is a significant factor in determining whether you're disabled, the VA considers your medical record as a whole when making a decision.

How Can I Get a Copy of My C&P Examination Report?

The C&P doctor won't send you a copy of the report. Instead, you'll need to fill out a Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act Request (VA Form 20-10206). You can do this online, in person at your VA regional office, or by mailing the completed form to the following address:

Department of Veterans Affairs
Evidence Intake Center
PO Box 4444
Janesville, WI
53547-4444

The VA is supposed to have a quick turnaround on FOIA requests for C&P exams, but in practice this can take some time. You may have better luck getting your exam results quicker by going in person to a VA regional office.

What If I Need More Help On My Disability Claim?

If the VA denied your claim for disability benefits after the compensation and pension examination, you can appeal the decision. You can get help with your appeal from your VSO (if you have one) or you can hire an attorney who has experience helping veterans qualify for disability benefits.