Establish service connection if the qualifying chronic disability arose to a b. Establishing Service compensable degree after the Veteran last served in the Southwest Asia Connection for theater of operations during the GW period, regardless of the active Veteran’s a Compensable duty status at the time. Qualifying Chronic If service connection is established during the presumptive period, include the Disability That following statement in the rating decision: Service connection may be Arose During presumed for disabilities resulting from undiagnosed illnesses or diagnosed the illnesses which arose to a compensable degree after service in the Southwest Presumptive Asia theater of operations during the Gulf War period. Service connection Period [disability] for has been awarded on the basis of this presumption. For more information on documenting a decision see . Reference: Evaluate the level of impairment of qualifying chronic undiagnosed c. Evaluating the Level of disabilities by drawing an analogy to an existing DC in the rating schedule Impairment per . From an Undiagnosed Precede a discussion of the evaluation criteria in the rating decision with the Disability by following statement: Since the disability at issue does not have its own Analogy evaluation criteria assigned in VA regulations, a closely related disease or injury was used for this purpose. For more information on documenting a decision see . Reference: Continued on next page , Continued d. Using Use hyphenated DCs for all undiagnosed disabilities. Hyphenated DCs for The table below describes each of the codes that comprise a complete Undiagnosed hyphenated DC Disabilities For more information on analogous DCs, see Reference: , and . Code Description Example Reference First DC Should always be one 8863, for diseases For more information on of the DCs established analogous to DCs, see for the undiagnosed systemic diseases illness , and .
b. Establishing Service Connection for a Compensable Qualifying Chronic Disability That Arose During the Presumptive Period Establish service connection if the qualifying chronic disability arose to a compensable degree after the Veteran last served in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the GW period, regardless of the Veteran’s active duty status at the time. If service connection is established during the presumptive period, include the following statement in the rating decision: Service connection may be presumed for disabilities resulting from undiagnosed illnesses or diagnosed illnesses which arose to a compensable degree after service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Gulf War period. Service connection for [disability] has been awarded on the basis of this presumption. Reference: For more information on documenting a decision see . c. Evaluating the Level of Impairment From an Undiagnosed Disability by Analogy Evaluate the level of impairment of qualifying chronic undiagnosed disabilities by drawing an analogy to an existing DC in the rating schedule per . Precede a discussion of the evaluation criteria in the rating decision with the following statement: Since the disability at issue does not have its own evaluation criteria assigned in VA regulations, a closely related disease or injury was used for this purpose. Reference: For more information on documenting a decision see . Continued on next page , Continued d. Using Hyphenated DCs for Undiagnosed Disabilities Use hyphenated DCs for all undiagnosed disabilities. The table below describes each of the codes that comprise a complete hyphenated DC Reference: For more information on analogous DCs, see , and . Code Description Example Reference First DC Should always be one of the DCs established for the undiagnosed illness 8863, for diseases analogous to systemic diseases For more information on DCs, see , and .