When the VA finishes reviewing your disability claim, you might notice that some conditions received a rating while others are listed as deferred. A deferred rating simply means the VA has not yet made a final decision on that particular condition. It is not a denial. The VA is signaling that it needs more information, additional development, or further review before it can assign a rating percentage. If you filed for multiple conditions at once, it is common for some to be decided quickly while others require extra steps. Understanding what a deferral means can save you a lot of unnecessary worry.
There are several reasons the VA might defer a rating. The most common is that it needs additional medical evidence, such as a Compensation and Pension exam that has not yet been completed or whose results have not been received. Sometimes the VA defers because your condition is intertwined with another condition that is still being evaluated. For example, if you claimed both a knee injury and a back condition caused by the knee injury, the VA may need to rate the knee first before it can evaluate the secondary back claim. Other times, the VA may be waiting on service records, private treatment records you authorized them to obtain, or a specialist medical opinion.
Deferrals do not have a fixed timeline, which can be frustrating. In general, most deferred conditions are resolved within a few months of the initial decision, but complex cases can take longer. The VA is supposed to expedite the remaining development and issue a follow-up decision as soon as the needed evidence is gathered. You can check the status of your deferred claim on the VA website or by calling the VA hotline. If several months pass with no update, contacting your regional office or a Veterans Service Organization can help move things along.
While you wait for a deferred rating to be resolved, you are not powerless. If you have additional medical evidence that supports the deferred condition, submit it right away. This might include recent treatment records, a private medical opinion linking your condition to service, or buddy statements from fellow service members who witnessed the injury or symptoms. Proactively submitting strong evidence can speed up the process and strengthen your case. Just be sure to clearly label any submission with your claim number and specify which deferred condition it relates to.
One important thing to understand is how deferred conditions affect your overall combined rating. When some conditions are rated and others are deferred, the VA will issue a partial rating based on the conditions that have been decided. You will start receiving compensation at that partial combined rate. Once the deferred condition is resolved, the VA will issue a new decision that recalculates your combined rating to include the newly rated condition. If the deferred condition receives a compensable rating, your combined percentage will go up, and you may receive back pay to the effective date of the original claim. This means you are not losing money by having a deferral — back pay accrues from the date you filed, not the date they finish processing.
If your deferred condition is eventually denied, you have the same appeal rights as you would for any other VA decision. You can file a Supplemental Claim with new evidence, request a Higher Level Review, or appeal to the Board of Veterans Appeals. The key takeaway is that a deferral is a pause, not a final answer, and staying engaged with the process gives you the best chance of a favorable outcome.
Note: This article references sections of the VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual. The VA periodically reorganizes the M21-1 and section numbers may have changed since this article was written. For the most current section references, visit the VA's public M21-1 Web Automated Reference Material System (WARMS).