The journey to obtaining VA disability benefits can often feel overwhelming to both veterans and their loved ones involved.
With numerous forms to fill out, medical records and other evidence to obtain and the sheer complexity of the claims process itself, it’s no wonder there is a constant need for clarity and efficiency.
The VA’s Automated Decision Support System (ADS) was a key innovation designed by Veterans Affairs to help streamline the disability claims process.
This system utilizes advanced technology to quickly gather and analyze information pertaining to veterans claims.
It plays a pivotal role in providing a clear and concise summary of your claim’s evidence, and it can also be a useful tool to help aid you in getting the benefits you and your loved ones deserve.
What is the Automated Review Summary Document (ARSD)?
One of the more modern and useful tools the VA created in effort to improve and streamline the disability claims process is the Automated Review Summary Document, otherwise known as ARSD.
This technology was created to bridge the gap between the vast amount of evidence a veteran may have, and the swift, accurate decisions that are needed to process claims.
How Does ARSD Work?
While the technology to create the ARSD is advanced and complicated in its design, the steps it takes to get the valuable information needed for both the VA and veterans alike, is pretty straightforward.
Here’s the basics:
- It gathers information: The ARSD system pulls together all of the medical records and other pieces of evidence from your VA file. It searches through everything from service treatment records to medical examinations and C&P exams, ensuring no details are overlooked or missed.
- It analyzes data. Once it has all the necessary information, the ARSD uses advanced technology to analyze and prioritize the data. This means that it can, very quickly, highlight the most important pieces of evidence for a particular claim.
- It creates a summary. The end result of the ARSD’s efforts is to create a streamlined document that offers a clear, organized summary of all of your evidence related to your claim. It’s presented in an order of importance, and it helps claims processors make faster and more efficient decisions regarding your claim.
Why Does it Matter to Veterans and Dependents?
The ARSD is more than just advanced technical innovation; it represents a very significant effort and a step forward in the VA’s attempts to make the claims process more transparent and efficient for veterans.
By automating the review of records and evidence:
- Claims are processed faster, reducing the often significant wait times.
- The accuracy of claim decisions is improved dramatically, ensuring veterans receive the benefits they are entitled to.
- Claims processors can focus on more complex tasks, easing their workload and enhancing the overall quality of service.
Structured Data is Important for Claims!
While the ARSD offers a variety of benefits and contributions to the overall speed and accuracy of processing VA disability claims, one of its biggest impacts is structuring data.
The use of structured data, in regards to evidence for a claim, means that the ARSD is able to accurately pinpoint what is most relevant to your claim.
This precision can help make the claims process not only faster, but also fairer, as decisions are based more on a comprehensive overview of all the provided information.
Did the VA Deny Your Disability Claim?
Let our team review your case today!
Get a Free Case EvaluationHow can the ARSD Strengthen Your Disability Claim?
The process of navigating VA disability claims is daunting and wrought with challenges, but using the Automated Review Summary Document (ARSD) offers a strategic advantage.
Here’s some key tips on how to utilize it to help bolster your claim, ensuring you and your family can navigate this journey more effectively.
Tip #1: Identify the ARSD in Your Claim File
First and foremost, it’s important to determine if the ARSD has been used in processing your claim. If your claim has been through the Automated Decision Support (ADS) system, an ARSD will be included in your eFolder. This document is a goldmine of organized and prioritized information and offers a comprehensive overview of all of your evidence.
Tip #2: Understand Your Medical Evidence
The ARSD provides a summarized yet thorough overview of evidence considered in your claim. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the contents and understand how your records have been interpreted. This insight can help you identify gaps or areas that might need additional support to help you in a successful claim.
Tip #3: Utilize Recognized Diagnostic Codes When Applicable
The ARSD uses specific diagnostic codes in order to categorize conditions, which are an important part of the automated review process. Make sure to review these codes and understand the ones that are relevant to your condition(s). Aligning your claim with these recognized diagnostic codes can help streamline the review process.
Tip #4: Keep Up with Updates on Eligible Conditions
The VA continuously updates the list of eligible conditions for automated review. Staying informed about these updates will help you have strategic advantage, especially if new conditions that can be related to your situation become eligible.
Tip #5: Use ARSD Insights to Strengthen Claims
Analyzing the ARSD can offer additional insights to help pinpoint where your claim might be strongest and areas where you could improve and provide more detail. Utilize this information to bolster your claim, whether by providing additional evidence for underrepresented areas, or by clarifying discrepancies in your records.
Tip #6: Advocate for Yourself and Your Claim with ARSD Data
Armed with data from the ARSD, you are much better equipped to understand and advocate for your claim. Whether it’s discussing it with a Veterans Service Officer (VSO) or even during appeals with a veteran attorney, the ARSD provides concrete data and summaries that are easier to understand and help support your case.
Recent Updates to the ADS Process to Note
The Veterans Affairs (VA) continuously refines the Automated Decision Support (ADS) system to help better serve veterans and their families.
These updates tend to be largely driven by feedback from those who use it daily: the claims processors.
Their hands-on expertise often offers invaluable insights into what can make the tool more effective.
Key Adjustments:
- Prioritization of Information: Perhaps the most notable adjustment that has been made to the process, is the prioritization of information. The ADS now highlights information in order of importance, starting with the most critical, in the Automated Review Summary Document (ARSD). This ensures claims processors can quickly access the evidence they need to make decisions quickly and efficiently.
- Introduction of New Tables: To help offer a more clear overview of claims and contentions, new tables have been integrated into the ARSD. These tables often make it easier for claims processors to navigate more complex claims, and help ensure that nothing is overlooked.
The evolution and benefits of the ADS and the ARSD for veterans and their dependents is substantial, and showcases how the advancement of technology can enhance the claims process.
It’s a very big step in the right direction toward making what is often a very confusing and tedious process for many, into something much faster, more accurate and more attuned to the needs of those who need it most.
Cassandra Crosby, an Accredited Agent and claims advocate for Matthew Hill & Shelly Mark’s teams, reviewed the information provided in this post.
