All claimed issues must be entered as contentions as they are claimed. Each a. Identifying Contentions claimed issue, including non-rating issues, must be entered as a separate contention. Non-rating contentions should relate to the specific benefit being sought. Use of contentions for each is mandatory and should be entered as soon as they are identified. This information will be made available via eBenefits and should Important: be easy to understand and in the claimant’s own words, as appropriate. Examples: A Veteran submits a dependency claim to add a school age child and a minor child. The contentions associated with the claim should be entered as [name of child], and school age child claim for [name of child]. minor child claim for A Veteran submits a claim for ringing in the ears. The contention should be entered as ringing in the ears. b. Verifying All contentions must be verified in order for them to be available via Contentions eBenefits. Contentions automatically entered by the system will not be verified until an employee reviews the contention and checks the verified box. All employees reviewing a claim are responsible for ensuring all contentions are correct and verified. c. Classifying The CLASSIFICATION field is a required component when entering a Contentions contention. When selecting a classification, use appropriate medical verbiage that corresponds to the claimed medical condition, instead of the claimant’s original language. Classifying a contention is required if the MEDICAL field is set to Note: Yes. If the MEDICAL field is set to adding a classification is optional. No, is a classification that must be applied to an Exception: Unemployability individual unemployability contention in order to complete necessary specific development actions in VBMS. d. Associating Each contention must have the correct claim type associated with it. The Claims Types contention claim types are to Contentions New Increase Secondary, and Reopen.
a. Identifying Contentions All claimed issues must be entered as contentions as they are claimed. Each claimed issue, including non-rating issues, must be entered as a separate contention. Non-rating contentions should relate to the specific benefit being sought. Use of contentions for each is mandatory and should be entered as soon as they are identified. Important: This information will be made available via eBenefits and should be easy to understand and in the claimant’s own words, as appropriate. Examples: A Veteran submits a dependency claim to add a school age child and a minor child. The contentions associated with the claim should be entered as school age child claim for [name of child], and minor child claim for [name of child]. A Veteran submits a claim for ringing in the ears. The contention should be entered as ringing in the ears. b. Verifying Contentions All contentions must be verified in order for them to be available via eBenefits. Contentions automatically entered by the system will not be verified until an employee reviews the contention and checks the verified box. All employees reviewing a claim are responsible for ensuring all contentions are correct and verified. c. Classifying Contentions The CLASSIFICATION field is a required component when entering a contention. When selecting a classification, use appropriate medical verbiage that corresponds to the claimed medical condition, instead of the claimant’s original language. Note: Classifying a contention is required if the MEDICAL field is set to Yes. If the MEDICAL field is set to No, adding a classification is optional. Exception: Unemployability is a classification that must be applied to an individual unemployability contention in order to complete necessary specific development actions in VBMS. d. Associating Claims Types to Contentions Each contention must have the correct claim type associated with it. The contention claim types are New Increase Secondary, and Reopen.
10-30-15_Key%20Changes_M21-1III_iii_1_SecD.docx