Claim Raven explanation
What this means
The rating schedule reflects average impairment in earning capacity. VA needs descriptive medical examinations and must view a disability in relation to its history.
The schedule uses standard criteria to describe average impairment in earning capacity. Your medical history and current limitations supply the facts used with those criteria. This is why a record that only names a diagnosis can be less useful for rating than one that also explains the condition's effects.
How this helps your claim
This rule helps explain why the name of a diagnosis is only part of a rating review. Records describing limitations and the history of the disability help VA apply the rating schedule. You can use it to check whether an examination gives a clear picture of the condition rather than only listing it.
What to check in your records
Look for descriptions of what the condition limits, how often it affects you, and how it has changed.
- Find the diagnostic code and evaluation in your rating decision.
- Look for examination findings that describe limitations of activity and how the condition affects you.
- Compare older and newer records for changes over time. Keep the dates so a later finding is not mistaken for your condition throughout the whole claim period.
Explain the condition's course as well as its name
A diagnosis can stay the same while its effects change. Treatment history, recurring symptoms and the ability to perform ordinary activities help describe the disability over the period being evaluated. The rating schedule needs those facts to be applied meaningfully.
Organize significant changes by date, including improvement as well as worsening. This creates a more useful history than a list containing only the most severe moments. A record should explain the actual condition and its effects, not merely repeat the percentage the claimant hopes to receive.
Does a rating equal my exact personal loss of income?
No. The schedule is based on average impairment in earning capacity, rather than a direct reimbursement of each person's lost wages. Individual employment effects can still matter under applicable provisions. Keep the general rating framework distinct from specific questions such as individual unemployability.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 4.1
eCFR snapshot: September 3, 2026. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 4.1 Essentials of evaluative rating.
This rating schedule is primarily a guide in the evaluation of disability resulting from all types of diseases and injuries encountered as a result of or incident to military service. The percentage ratings represent as far as can practicably be determined the average impairment in earning capacity resulting from such diseases and injuries and their residual conditions in civil occupations. Generally, the degrees of disability specified are considered adequate to compensate for considerable loss of working time from exacerbations or illnesses proportionate to the severity of the several grades of disability. For the application of this schedule, accurate and fully descriptive medical examinations are required, with emphasis upon the limitation of activity imposed by the disabling condition. Over a period of many years, a veteran's disability claim may require reratings in accordance with changes in laws, medical knowledge and his or her physical or mental condition. It is thus essential, both in the examination and in the evaluation of disability, that each disability be viewed in relation to its history.
[41 FR 11292, Mar. 18, 1976]
Related references
- 38 USC § 1155: The law behind VA disability rating percentages
- 38 CFR § 4.10: Daily-life limitations in VA disability ratings
- 38 CFR § 4.2: Inadequate VA examination reports
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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