Request a Higher-Level Review

1. Read the decision you want reviewed

A notice can decide several issues. Identify the specific decided issue and the date of its notice.

Read each issue’s outcome, reasons, favorable findings, and review instructions. Keep the notice and identify what you believe the existing record shows.

Official action:

Read the notice promptly. A decided issue’s review period can run while another issue remains deferred.

A local checkmark records your preparation only. It does not confirm that VA received a request.

Compare whether an existing-record review fits the issue.

A later worsening after an award is different from challenging the earlier evaluation. If you want VA to consider new evidence, compare Supplemental Claim and the Board docket choices.

The fictional decision-letter guide explains the notice’s parts; it is not an official template or your actual decision.

2. Check that Higher-Level Review fits

The higher-level reviewer considers the evidence VA had for the earlier decision. This choice does not accept new evidence.

Identify the factual or legal error, or the difference of opinion, you want the reviewer to consider. Compare another option if you need to add evidence.

Official action:

Ordinary Higher-Level Review follows an eligible initial or Supplemental decision. It is not available to review the same HLR decision or a Board decision.

A local checkmark records your preparation only. It does not confirm that VA received a request.

Check the applicable timing and whether a review of the same issue is already pending.

A Supplemental Claim can involve new and relevant evidence or an applicable change in law. A Board Appeal has separate Direct Review, Evidence Submission, and Hearing choices.

Contested claims do not use this ordinary HLR process. A legacy appeal already in progress requires its own instructions.

3. Check timing and any pending review

An HLR request and an intent to file have different timing rules.

Use the date and review instructions in the decision notice. If an administrative review of the same issue is pending, follow VA’s switching or withdrawal instructions before filing another choice.

Official action:

Ordinarily request HLR within one year of the date on the eligible initial or Supplemental decision notice. Do not use this educational guide as a personal deadline calculation.

A local checkmark records your preparation only. It does not confirm that VA received a request.

Open the applicable request form and choose whether you want an informal conference.

VA’s rules for switching a pending review are conditional. A pending Board Appeal has different switching instructions.

The same-issue restriction concerns administrative review choices. Federal-court review has a distinct judicial qualification; do not apply a blanket prohibition to a Supplemental Claim during judicial review.

If timing, good cause, legacy status, or a contested matter is uncertain, read the special instructions and seek qualified assistance.

4. Complete VA Form 20-0996 or the online request

The request identifies the benefit type, each issue, and the date of its decision notification letter.

Copy the issues and notice dates accurately. Use one benefit type per request form, sign the official request, and include the required identifying information through VA’s channel.

Official action:

Use the current March 2024 revision. Keep the actual notice’s filing instructions beside you.

A local checkmark records your preparation only. It does not confirm that VA received a request.

Decide whether to ask for the optional informal conference.

Item 15 identifies the benefit type. Section V, items 18A and 18B identify the specific issues and decision notification dates.

The official online HLR request is for disability compensation. Other benefits use their applicable form and program instructions.

Do not submit private medical records or completed forms to VetCore. The field guide uses fictional examples.

5. Choose whether to request an informal conference

The conference is an optional call to point out factual or legal errors in the existing record. It is not a hearing and does not accept new evidence.

If you want the call, select the informal-conference option on the official request and provide accurate contact information. Prepare concise points about the existing record.

Official action:

VA offers one informal conference per HLR and makes two contact attempts to arrange it. Asking for a conference can affect processing time; no completion date is promised.

A local checkmark records your preparation only. It does not confirm that VA received a request.

Submit the request through the channel for your benefit.

March 2024 item 16A is the optional informal-conference election.

You can have an accredited representative participate. An audience selection in VetCore does not appoint a representative.

Do not treat the conference as a compensation and pension examination or submit new medical evidence through it.

6. Submit the Higher-Level Review request through VA

The request must reach VA through an applicable official submission method. Opening a guide or checking a task does not file it.

For disability compensation, use VA’s online HLR request or send the completed paper form to the compensation destination. For another benefit, use its program-specific instructions.

Official action:

Keep the submission date, completed request, and confirmation or mailing record. Follow your decision notice’s instructions.

Save the on-screen receipt after submission or the mailing record and any VA acknowledgment. A VetCore mark is not VA confirmation.

Watch for VA confirmation and, if requested, the informal-conference scheduling contact.

Use the destination shown for your selected benefit and filing method. To review another benefit’s address, change the benefit selection or open the form’s submission instructions.

Regional-office in-person delivery is described for benefits other than health care; do not extrapolate it to clinical-treatment appeals.

If another administrative review of the same issue is pending, read the switching instructions before submitting a second request.

7. Follow the review and read the next decision

The experienced reviewer reexamines the existing record. A prior duty-to-assist error can lead to additional evidence development before another decision.

Check actual VA status, answer conference scheduling contacts if you requested the call, and respond to any later development or examination notice. Read the new decision issue by issue.

Official action:

Processing goals and averages are not personal completion dates. Use the dates and instructions in actual notices.

A local checkmark records your preparation only. It does not confirm that VA received a request.

If you disagree with the HLR decision, applicable alternatives include a Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence or a Board Appeal.

You cannot ask for another HLR of the same HLR decision. Follow the new notice if VA returns the issue for development and later issues a new decision.

A scheduled examination is conditional, not an automatic step in every HLR.

HLR review/development differs from the eight initial disability-claim statuses. VetCore does not show authenticated VA status.