Secondary Conditions for DOD Rating

Fellow Vets,

For SMs that are going through MEDBOARD process in the Army National Guard and are diagnose with PTSD and have secondary conditions of ED, migrains/headaches due to medications reactions.

Can an SM get rating for the secondary conditions (ED, migrains/headaches) on top of the PTSD for DOD rating?



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The VA will rate you for all your claims to include your referred conditions. The DOD only looks at you referred conditions.
 
Fellow Vets,

For SMs that are going through MEDBOARD process in the Army National Guard and are diagnose with PTSD and have secondary conditions of ED, migrains/headaches due to medications reactions.

Can an SM get rating for the secondary conditions (ED, migrains/headaches) on top of the PTSD for DOD rating?



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If you are worried about secondary conditions being "pyramided" then that is very particular to how your conditions are diagnosed and treated...
Pyramid ratings are for when a certain condition or body part shares multiple diagnosis due to shared symptoms, take for an easy example : If you had a sprained ankle then you would have one ratable condition of either a joint injury or impaired range of motion since both are results of the single sprained ankle - you will get a rating for the injured ankle and impaired range of motion condition but it will result in one single rating outcome for the sprained ankle (using the highest of the two pyramided ratings).

Applying this to what I believe you are asking, is going to be based of what is a SYMPTOM of your PTSD and what is a separate diagnosable sustained condition. Take your headaches and PTSD for example = if your headaches are officially diagnosed as a result solely of your PTSD then its possible to have your headaches rolled into a factor of your final PTSD rating and to not be rated separately. I on the other hand have a rating for PTSD and a rating for Migraines/Headaches because I have migraines regardless of my PTSD diagnosis, they are two totally unrated conditions, hence I get two separate ratings.

Is this what you are thinking about?
 
The VA will rate you for all your claims to include your referred conditions. The DOD only looks at you referred conditions.
DoD is require to consider all conditions.
 
Fellow Vets,

For SMs that are going through MEDBOARD process in the Army National Guard and are diagnose with PTSD and have secondary conditions of ED, migrains/headaches due to medications reactions.

Can an SM get rating for the secondary conditions (ED, migrains/headaches) on top of the PTSD for DOD rating?

ED is not rateable (percentage wise) it is a special monthly compensation (SMC).

Migraines are rateable under diagnostic code 8100 and would not likely ever be secondary to, or combined with PTSD.

When it comes to fitness, the PEB is supposed to consider ALL conditions under DoDI 1322.18, however this does not imply that ALL conditions do or do not meet the standards of fitness for retention.
 
I was referred for Venous Thrombosis (blood clots) and claimed about 20 other conditions. The DOD only looked at my referred conditions to determine FIT or UNFIT and the VA looked at them all.
 
When the process runs as propsed, you will get referred to the MEB for all unfitting conditions, the VA will rate all claimed conditions and the DoD will apply VA ratings as appropriate to the referred conditions and determine which referred condition and ratings are applicable to the DoD rating... in my case I believe I was referred for all the proper conditions, Migraines, CPAP use due to Sleep Apnea, bilateral knee pain, rt should joint pain and PTSD.

My DoD ratings came back as
50% Sleep Apnea unfitting for constant CPAP requirements
30% bilaterally applied knee pain from surgical debridement and unfitting due to prolonged PT profile
20% right shoulder impingment unfitting due to prolonged PT profile
and 50% PTSD due to combat deployment but found fit for military due to AFSC reassignment and medications confirmed relief and no long term ill effects.

The DoD reviewed all my referred conditions and found one not unfit and only applied the unfitting conditions to the DoD rating. All other VA conditions were reviewed and found to fitting.

In short the DoD rated all referred conditions and reviewed all CLAIMED conditions. Only the PTSD required an adjustment and rejected the rating as it was found as a fit condition while all other VA claimed conditions were rejected as they were also found to be considered fit for service conditions.

Referred conditions are conditions you have that may warrant review to be fit/unfit for service - these lead to you being able to claim conditions with the VA during your IDES to include the referred conditions.
VA claimed conditions are ANY condition you claim for rating.
 
From what I've seen/discovered, secondary conditions normally creep up after a few years and are normally "linked" to an already existing service connected condition. Since you're filing an initial claim, everything will look to be a primary complaint so list as much as you need to. Let the VA sort out the details of secondary cause and effect.
 
ED is not rateable (percentage wise) it is a special monthly compensation (SMC).

Migraines are rateable under diagnostic code 8100 and would not likely ever be secondary to, or combined with PTSD.

When it comes to fitness, the PEB is supposed to consider ALL conditions under DoDI 1322.18, however this does not imply that ALL conditions do or do not meet the standards of fitness for retention.
gsfowler - I understand that ED is not ratable and that it is a SMC. I am at 0% for ED as a secondary to MS, but "how do I know" I am receiving the SMC in my payments? Is there a separate listing on my dollar amount coming in from C&P, or do I just have to "count on it" hoping it is included?
 
Hello,

I receive two SMCs, one of which is SMC-K.

SMC-K is $108 and some change. It is included in the combined total I receive at my credit union (i.e., not broken out).

Recommendation: Determine what your VA compensation would be without SMC-K and add $108 to it. That should give you the info you want.

VA compensation tables are at Veterans Compensation Benefits Rate Tables - Effective 12/1/18 - Compensation <---LINK

Ron
 
The exact amount of SMC-K = $108.57

Edited to add:

Although I am not a fan of eBenefits, the award of SMC-K does appear on my eBenefits account.

Ron
 
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