Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This rule allows VA to obtain an outside medical expert's opinion when a pending claim presents sufficient medical complexity or controversy. It explains how a written request is considered and approved.
This is a VA-arranged independent opinion process. It is different from hiring your own clinician to prepare a report. A request should explain the particular medical problem that needs expert review, rather than simply ask for a different answer.
How this helps your claim
If competing medical explanations leave a complex issue unresolved, identify the precise question and why the existing opinions do not resolve it. That gives VA a concrete basis to consider whether an independent opinion is warranted.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Identify the conflicting findings or difficult medical question in the existing opinions.
- Keep any written request explaining why outside expert review is needed.
- Check the decision or remand for instructions about obtaining an independent opinion.
Identify the medical question needing outside expertise
A request for an independent opinion is more specific than a request for someone to disagree with an unfavorable examiner. The issue is the medical complexity or controversy described by the rule. Identify what the existing opinions leave unresolved and why that question needs specialized consideration.
Keep the competing medical reasoning and relevant records together. A disagreement about a service date or missing administrative document may not be the kind of medical question this process addresses. Distinguishing factual gaps from medical controversy helps explain the purpose of any request.
Is this the same as obtaining my own medical opinion?
No. This regulation describes a VA-arranged outside-expert process with its own request and approval provisions. A privately obtained report is submitted through the applicable evidence process. Both can involve medical expertise, but their procedures and roles in the claim are different.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.328
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.328 lndependent medical opinions.
(a) General. When warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in a pending claim, an advisory medical opinion may be obtained from one or more medical experts who are not employees of VA. Opinions shall be obtained from recognized medical schools, universities, clinics or medical institutions with which arrangements for such opinions have been made, and an appropriate official of the institution shall select the individual expert(s) to render an opinion.
(b) Requests. A request for an independent medical opinion in conjunction with a claim pending before VA may be initiated by the office having jurisdiction over the claim, by the claimant, or by his or her duly appointed representative. The request must be submitted in writing and must set forth in detail the reasons why the opinion is necessary. All such requests shall be submitted through the Veterans Service Center Manager or Pension Management Center Manager of the office having jurisdiction over the claim, and those requests which in the judgment of the Veterans Service Center Manager or Pension Management Center Manager merit consideration shall be referred to the Compensation Service or the Pension and Fiduciary Service for approval.
(c) Approval.
(1) Requests for independent medical opinions shall be approved when one of the following conditions is met:
(i) The director of each Service from which a benefit is sought, or his or her designee, determines that the issue under consideration poses a medical problem of such complexity or controversy as to justify solicitation of an independent medical opinion; or
(ii) The independent medical opinion is required to fulfill the instructions contained in a remand order from the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
(2) A determination that an independent medical opinion is not warranted may be contested only as part of an appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals on the merits of the decision rendered on the primary issue by VA.
(d) Notification. The Compensation Service or the Pension and Fiduciary Service shall notify the claimant when the request for an independent medical opinion has been approved with regard to his or her claim and shall furnish the claimant with a copy of the opinion when it is received. If, in the judgment of the Secretary, disclosure of the independent medical opinion would be harmful to the physical or mental health of the claimant, disclosure shall be subject to the special procedures set forth in § 1.577 of this chapter.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 5109, 5701(b)(1); 5 U.S.C. 552a(f)(3))
[55 FR 18602, May 3, 1990, as amended at 79 FR 2100, Jan. 13, 2014; 84 FR 170, Jan. 18, 2019]
Related references
- 38 USC § 5109: Outside Expert Medical Opinions
- 38 CFR § 4.1: What a VA disability rating measures
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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