Prepare for a VA Higher-Level Review Informal Conference

An informal conference in a Higher-Level Review (HLR) is a phone call where you or your representative point out a factual or legal error in a VA decision to the reviewer handling it. It is not a new exam, a formal hearing, or a way to add evidence. Prepare a one-page outline for each issue that quotes the decision's statement and points to evidence that was already in the record when VA decided.

The rule comes from VA regulation 38 C.F.R. 3.2601(h): the conference exists only to identify errors of law or fact based on the record at the time of the decision, and VA will not receive new evidence or new facts during it. Under paragraph (f) of the same rule, the reviewer may not consider evidence added after the decision notice.

How VA schedules the call

You ask for the conference on the HLR application, VA Form 20-0996, by checking Item 16A; the Form 20-0996 example walks through that box and the contact-preference items. VA's HLR page says the reviewer will call you or your representative to set a time and may also email or text you a scheduling link. The reviewer makes two attempts to reach you; if both fail, the review goes ahead without the call. You get one conference per HLR, and it can lengthen the review. VA suggests a written statement with the application as a faster way to explain the errors. Keep your phone number and email current, and if you have a representative, decide together who takes the call.

Build one issue outline, not a speech about the whole claim

For each issue, read the decision letter's favorable findings, stated reason, evidence summary and applicable law. Then find the passage in the pre-decision record that supports your point.

Fictional example: The decision says there is no evidence of treatment during service. The service treatment record already in the file has a visit for the injury on May 12, at page 18. The outline says: "Please review the May 12 service treatment entry at page 18. The decision says there was no treatment. Was that entry considered, and does it change the stated reason?" It does not add a new doctor's opinion or describe care the record does not show.

If the decision covered several issues, lead with the one or two clearest errors but keep a row for each issue you listed. Mark any page location you have not confirmed. "The examiner was wrong" is less useful than naming the history the examiner misstated or the question the opinion never answered.

Check whether HLR can do the job

The reviewer can keep the decision, change it in your favor, or find a duty-to-assist error and send the issue back for VA to gather the missing evidence and decide again, as 38 C.F.R. 3.2601(g) describes. A missing or inadequate exam is a common version of that error. In August 2026 VA changed how its claims manual routes complex medical opinions for claims returned from HLR; Claim Raven's summary of the M21-1 HLR exam exception explains what changed.

If you need VA to weigh evidence created or received after the decision, the conference cannot bring it in. That calls for a Supplemental Claim or a Board option that accepts evidence; the comparison of review options sets them side by side. Before you rely on a record, confirm it was in the file on the decision date.

For most VA benefits, you request an HLR within one year of the date on the decision letter. The conference request does not extend that deadline.

On the call and afterward

Have the decision letter, your outline and the source pages in front of you. For each issue, state the decision passage and the conflicting record, then leave room for the reviewer's questions. Afterward, write down the date and what you discussed. The reviewer may not rule on the call; wait for the written HLR decision and read each issue's outcome and next options.

If the decision's reasons are hard to separate, Claim Raven's Raven Eye gives each account one free starter analysis of a decision letter or Disability Benefits Questionnaire; Claim Raven sells the tool, and it cannot file the HLR or add evidence to it.

Sources and scope

Checked September 23, 2026: VA's Higher-Level Review page (scheduling link, two contact attempts, one conference, written-statement alternative), VA Form 20-0996 (March 2024 revision), and 38 C.F.R. 3.2601 paragraphs (f), (g) and (h) on eCFR. The service-record example is fictional.