c. Establishing Before considering entitlement to SMC at the rate, the rating activity must Entitlement to establish entitlement to A&A benefits at the (l) rate. A&A at the (l) Rate Prior to For more information on the procedures governing awards at the Reference: Rating for SMC rate for A&A, see M21-1, Part IV, Subpart ii, 2.H.8. SMC(t) d. Processing Veterans entitled to SMC at the rate are entitled to payment at a rate Awards at the equivalent to (o) plus the (r)(2) allowance. If entitlement to the (r)(2) rate is SMC(t) Rate shown without regard to (t) provisions, process as a regular (r)(2) award. When the Veteran is entitled only to regular A&A due to TBI, but would require hospitalization, nursing home care, or other residential institutional care in the absence of regular A&A, the Veteran should be paid at the basic code in the absence of other qualifying disabilities. e. Processing When inputting a decision awarding entitlement to SMC , Hospitalization Rates for the use the SMC calculator in the web page to determine the highest rate(s) of SMC(t) Rate SMC enter the calculated rates into the VBMS-R SMC narrative and coding screens, and place the following notation in the free text codesheet comments box: SMC(t) = (r)(2). If a Veteran is entitled to a higher rate than SMC(l), but less than SMC(r)(2), the appropriate of SMC should be determined without accounting for an elevation to SMC(t). This action will generate the correct hospitalization code. Reduction for hospitalization will be made to the rate equal to SMC(s) in cases where there is no underlying SMC entitlement other than to A&A. Otherwise, the hospitalization rate will be paid according to underlying entitlement. For more information on reduction of SMC during Reference: hospitalization, see .
c. Establishing Entitlement to A&A at the (l) Rate Prior to Rating for SMC(t) Before considering entitlement to SMC at the rate, the rating activity must establish entitlement to A&A benefits at the (l) rate. Reference: For more information on the procedures governing awards at the SMC rate for A&A, see M21-1, Part IV, Subpart ii, 2.H.8. d. Processing Awards at the SMC(t) Rate Veterans entitled to SMC at the rate are entitled to payment at a rate equivalent to (o) plus the (r)(2) allowance. If entitlement to the (r)(2) rate is shown without regard to (t) provisions, process as a regular (r)(2) award. When the Veteran is entitled only to regular A&A due to TBI, but would require hospitalization, nursing home care, or other residential institutional care in the absence of regular A&A, the Veteran should be paid at the basic code in the absence of other qualifying disabilities. e. Processing Hospitalization Rates for the SMC(t) Rate When inputting a decision awarding entitlement to SMC , use the SMC calculator in the web page to determine the highest rate(s) of SMC enter the calculated rates into the VBMS-R SMC narrative and coding screens, and place the following notation in the free text codesheet comments box: SMC(t) = (r)(2). If a Veteran is entitled to a higher rate than SMC(l), but less than SMC(r)(2), the appropriate of SMC should be determined without accounting for an elevation to SMC(t). This action will generate the correct hospitalization code. Reduction for hospitalization will be made to the rate equal to SMC(s) in cases where there is no underlying SMC entitlement other than to A&A. Otherwise, the hospitalization rate will be paid according to underlying entitlement. Reference: For more information on reduction of SMC during hospitalization, see .