VA Claims: Moving from PREPARATION FOR DECISION to COMPLETION. How long?

Hopefully I can add a little more insight to all of the responses here because my situation is a little bit different. I received my Decision Notice letter, about to weeks ago, with my rating. Yesterday I went to Ebenefits to print my benefits summary letter, from the forms generator, and noticed that my information had changed from One or More Service connected disabilities to None. I called the VA and the explained that changes were made to my claim that hadn't posted to the system yet. I was told to call Claims Services for additional information. Obviously, this worried me because I thought that my claim was done since I had already received the Decision Notification Letter. Also all of the Information in the letter was reflected within my Ebenefits profile. I called Claims Services and the nice gentleman explained to me that because I had "Deferred Disabilities" my claim was going to continue changing status and was not going to be completed until all disabilities had been addressed. I asked if that was going to affect the decision I had already received and he said that while my rating could go up, based on the disabilities still under review, the rating I already had was accurate, approved, and could not be changed to a lower rating. I hope that this helps!! BTW, I completed my claim on my own, without any assistance from Veteran's Organizations, and got a pretty high rating and got it completed in 8 mos. Just have to be careful and pay attention to details in the instructions and provide requested documentation immediately after notification... Ebenefits is a great tool if you use it correctly. I will advised not to check your claim on a daily basis but, definitely check constantly to ensure that they're not waiting on you to submit documentation...

Still fighting the VA to get an injury that IS service connected recognized. FINALLY the VA tells me, we see that you were injured on this date and it IS connected so you get this, but NOW you have to go to a hearing to get it dated and documented properly. 2017 and waiting for them to get it right since 2009. We need to get a 'house cleaning' in Congress done in 2018.

I filed my claim while I still on active-duty in May of 2016, my C&P exams were in July of 2016 and I got my decision just before Christmas. It seemed to go very slow right up until the end. They must have a 6 month goal for Veterans before discharge claims. Ebenefits was accurate for me. It was part of my routine to check ebenefits everyday.

Short answer, for me it was about 2-3 months. Checks started about a month later and back pay a month or so after that. I used VFW and they were awesome but I hear DAV is even faster. fwiw.

Claim submitted Jan 9th, 2017. I had a C&P exam scheduled on Feb 12th and on Feb 13th it went to "Preparation for Decision" where it still stays.

Reading these forums I see quite a varied bit of experience utilizing VSO services. I have the DAV as mine; but, truth be told they haven't done anything for me. I"ve done all this on my own.

Is there something they should be doing on my behalf? I've called them and all they do is reiterate what ebenefits says which is:

Estimated Completion: 04/21/2017 - 07/07/2017


I'm a single claim on a secondary connection to something already service connected. The C&P exam affirms the service connection and recommends approval of the claim.

I realize some of you have been waiting much much longer; but, I just wonder to what extend the VSO makes a difference.

Mine went to Preparation for Decision on 29 August 16 and still waiting. You would think that since this is the "paperwork prep" phase that it wouldn't take that long as a rating has been determined for the most part. When this change happened my completion dates also changed from 29 Aug to 15 October to 30 September to 30 November. I applied using BDD in February through DAV, had my C/P exams in April. QTC left off one of my major conditions, then tried to blame it on the VA which had it listed on my claim. Finally got an evaluation for that mid May. Then in late June (the day before I was to leave for a job interview and visit family) I was contacted by QTC asking why I didn't go to the appointment. I told them I did, even gave a complete play by play of what occurred in the appointment. They said they would contact the doctor and later that day called up and said the doctors assistant didn't have a record of me showing up. I called the doctor he said he remembered me and had sent the paperwork to QTC, and he had two assistants that worked for him, one in his office and one in his lab, and they probably contacted the one in the lab. Called QTC, they were now extremely apologetic and fast tracked me into an appointment at a doctor in the location I was traveling. I've spoken with several people who were sent to QTC for C&P exams and others that were sent to VA hospitals. It seems that those going through QTC with similar conditions get their decisions slower than those using VA hospitals. Of course comparing VA claims is not like comparing apples to apples because each claim is unique.

I initially applied for Disability through a DAV Rep. and the claim opened on ebenefits on 4/29/16. Went to my CP exam on 8th and 9th of Aug. Just noticed that my claim changed status to "Preparation for Decision" on 2 Sept. Just wanted to post, if anyone is interested in following how long it might take. They do list the estimated dates for finishing as 26 Sept. to 23 Oct.

The first time it took about a week, the second time December 23rd 2015 and today 02/12/2016, it is still there. The first time they did not look at any of the evidence I submitted. I asked for a reconsideration within two weeks of getting the denial and it was granted. In both cases there was no C & P exam scheduled by the VA even though I requested one. My disability is only PTSD.

I filed back in Jan 12 2012 and went through the NOD phase, request DRO review and after 4 years finally granted my appeal and raised my compensation to 60 percent. I faxed my SOC letting them know I was happy with the decision and requested to discontinue the appeal process and have the start the adjudication and promulgated stage. So hopefully goes quickly, because they already granted me partial grant. Just hopefully they don't lolly gag around. The sooner the better. Any thoughts or anyone in this boat waiting for a final completion? Thoughts!

My situation was different from this in several ways. I had a Med-Board from the Army for one and only one disability. This happened so fast that I did not get other things documented well in the military system before I was out. I had several disabilities, though. I wrote them all up on the VA paperwork at TAP/ETS briefings which were all pretty informative, but rapid.

I filled out my claim with the VA rep at the Army post and got a decision letter about the time my ETS 90-day period was up. It included only the item from the Med-Board decision and two others that were easy to test for and include. Most of them were simply denied due to lack of records, although they were related to the incident that caused my Med-Board. I've been treated for several of these "denied" items repeatedly in the VA Health care system. I've attempted multiple claims through the VA. The first one was through the county's office. That one (the permanent disability part) never went anywhere, due to inability to service-connect things, and I knew I had a good rep there who was also a disabled vet. I was able to get temporary 100% through that rep for surgeries spaced out over the next two years, though.

I moved to a different county and that rep left the area anyway, so after a few more treatments for the "denied" parts, and some new ones I was then being treated for, I put in another claim this time with VFW. This one had just as much trouble as the first one, "service-connection" issues.

I pretty much gave up and began a new career in teaching, and didn't have time for 3 appts/week, so I let some things slide. I just "made do" the best I could, avoided whatever hurt the most, and worked my butt off. After a year-and-a-half of that, I was falling over and having severe migraines along with vertigo and nausea. I kept toughing it out to see what was making it worse or better. My Primary care referred me to TBI hearing, TBI eye clinic and Neurology. My neurologist was puzzled by the fact my migraines were one-sided, and by the stimulation for them. TBI sent me to a special eye clinic to see if they could help with eye strain. Apparently I was sensitive to the projector light bulb. I thought "what's new?" so the VA gave me glasses with a blue filter, which helped. They also changed the direction of focus for my right eyeball which was skewed from normal. Each eye was better than 20/20, but I had trouble seeing one image, therefore everything was "fuzzy".

Next my neurologist made a connection between several of the things I was being treated for, but had my claim denied. She connected these to the one-sided migraine and the crooked aim of my right eyeball. Since these things now were seen to have a common cause, I put in a another claim, through The Order of the Purple Heart (another VA service not as well known as VFW), pointing to the commonality in the cause behind four apparently unrelated things. My claim went through this time, with 3 of the 5 elements having always been on every claim before, and this was 8 years after the initial claim. I don't know if it was the 2 new ones added, or the fact that common thread connected them all that made the difference, or maybe it was my rep.

All I can say is proving service connectedness is difficult at best when you don't know what is specifically wrong, and if you get mis-diagnosed anywhere in the process. In my case my new claim that was approved resulted in two older diagnoses dropping off. They were replaced by more accurate ones that were explanatory for many symptoms, rather than being merely based on a single symptom.

I never got any back pay, though.

Singleton, have entered into the RAMP "program claim" and I am now in the "Preparation for Decision" stage. I didn't see an answer as to how long it took you to move to the next stage, so my question is: How long did it take? I have been in the "Waiting system" over 5 years now, and just moved over to the RAMP in May of this year.

Try ValuedVeterans.org and let them help you through this agonizing process.

claim for vision, headaches, total 3 months and on the second week in Preparing For Decision that is with an attorney. moving kind of fast. lets see...

The first time it took me any where from a couple of days to a month. The second time with a lawyer it took let than a couple of days.

should i worry, they moved my completion date up 3 months and said i will receive a decision in the mail. why did my decision come so fast.

I've been in prep for decision since May 15 2017.

Hello,
I had a question and hopefully someone can help me out. I put in for a automobile Allowance last May and never heard anything. So about 2 weeks ago I called the White House complaint/suggestion line and inquired about the claim. The lady took the info and said I will hear back within 2 weeks. Imagine this I had the Asst. Manager of the RO call me and let me know that I will have a decision in 10 days and they are working on it expoditously (butchered the spelling). So out of curiousity what do you think the outcome will be? Denied or approved. I also think they (VA) has to let the White House know the end result. I did ask her if they needed any additional evidence or the phone number to the doctor I see outside the VA. He said no we will be notifiying you in 10 days.

This is an old thread; but, I did want to add something I learned. My C&P exam was just last week and my status is now "Preparation for Decision".

Of course being anxious for news I called both my VSO and VA directly. Neither were helpful. But, I did login to myhealthyvet and was able to see the exam notes from my C&P exam.

So at least now I know what was recommended. While it still may be some time before they move forward one way or the other I know what's there.

So if you are in this phase -- look there. If the notes aren't in your favor start preparing for the possible unfavorable news.

Antonio Mallicott, waiting on new decision on back operation with service connection.

Mine moved to Preparation for Decision on 12/16/2016, and I received a phone call from the VA the same day to schedule me for a C&P Exam. I called the VSO handling the claim and found out that the VA awarded me partial decision on some of the items claimed, and deferred 4 of them pending the upcoming C&P Exam. I was told it could up to 10 days for eBenefits to be updated so I can see the actually Disability Rating, the A8/A4 letters. They said I might even receive the BBE in the mail before eBenefits is updated.

Unless there is something in your record that stand out or raises red flags that the examiner missed, it shouldn't be too long. Mine just moved to that stage this past week, and I called my VSO, they looked up my cases, and it has already been done, now awaiting the big brown envelope. As others have said or implied, making judgement calls on what you see in eBenefits is not wise. They are called a VSO for a reason.