“I’m Lori Underwood, an attorney with Woods and Woods, a VA disability compensation law firm practicing nationwide from Evansville, Indiana.”
Supplemental claims vs initial claims?
“Supplemental claims were introduced in the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) when it took place in February of 2019. They are not to be confused with initial claims.
“The difference between a supplemental claim and an initial claim is that a supplemental claim has to be supported by new and relevant evidence.”
How supplemental claims are used
“They can be used in a couple of different ways. They can be used to reopen a prior claim or in continuous prosecution of a claim. I’ll explain both of those to you in this segment.
“If you want to use a supplemental claim as a means to reopen a prior claim, let’s say for example that you previously applied for service connection for PTSD in maybe 1970 and it was denied, and you did not appeal that decision whenever you received it back in 1970, so that decision became final. Well, if you want to now reopen it in 2021, because maybe you’ve started seeing a new doctor who believes that you do have PTSD related to service, you could use a supplemental claim to reopen that prior denial.”
New and relevant evidence
“Now, remember supplemental claims have to be supported by new and relevant evidence. So, when you file that supplemental claim to reopen your prior denial, you need to present that new and relevant evidence with your supplemental claim.
“That new and relevant evidence could be your new doctor’s opinion that your PTSD is related to service. What this would do would be reopen that prior final decision that denied service connection for PTSD so that you can continue to adjudicate service connection for that condition. It would not open your prior effective date.”
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From a Google review for Woods & Woods
Supplemental claim in continuous prosecution
“Now, if you want to use a supplemental claim in continuous prosecution of an unfavorable decision, you can use that as a tool to appeal within the one-year timeframe of an unfavorable decision in the AMA and keep your effective date rolling. You will still need new and relevant evidence to accompany that supplemental claim.
“New and relevant evidence has to accompany every supplemental claim. An example of using a supplemental claim in continuous prosecution, maybe jumping from our last example, could be you filed that claim to reopen your prior denial of service connection for PTSD in 2021, and you got a rating decision that continued to deny your PTSD.
“If you want to file an appeal to that rating decision, you must do so within one year. AMA gives you several different options for appealing that. One of those options is the supplemental claim.
“So, within one year, you could file a supplemental claim to that rating decision with your new and relevant evidence and continuously prosecute that claim to save your effective date.
“Anytime the VA receives new and relevant evidence with your supplemental claim, they will readjudicate that claim based on the merits using the new and old evidence.
How Woods and Woods can help
“If you have any questions about appealing your claims or using supplemental claim process within the AMA, give us a call at Woods and Woods, and we can help you get through this process as we have thousands of veterans in the past. I’m Lori Underwood. Thanks for watching.”
Lori Underwood
VA disability attorney
Woods & Woods
Lori Underwood received her law degree from Northern Kentucky University. She has experience in Social Security disability and personal injury law and was a juvenile court attorney. She has been an attorney at Woods and Woods since 2014.
