Every veteran that has ever had a claim for service connection denied, fully understands that the appeals route is a long and arduous journey. In 2017, there were 470,000 veterans awaiting appeals decisions on their disability claims. And so, President Trump signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act into effect on August 23, 2017. The president’s primary goal was to speed up the appeals process on disability ratings and enable veterans to get decisions in a fraction of the time.
Since that time, veterans who have a pending appeal not at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals may have received an invitation to opt in to the Rapid Appeals Modernization Program (RAMP). RAMP is a voluntary program with no guarantees other than a decision will be made much quicker than usual. Consequently, veterans who decide to choose the RAMP route will not be able to opt out and return to the regular legacy appeals process.
There are two lanes for which someone can opt in to RAMP. There is the Supplementary Review where the veteran will have to provide new evidence. A second option to consider is the Higher-Level Review, which is performed by an experienced adjudicator without any new evidence. If a higher level review is selected and then gets denied, the veteran can choose to go back and do a supplementary review with new evidence. If a claim is denied in one or both of the options, that is not the end of the road. A third option is to submit a Notice of Disagreement and a VA Form 21-4138 that is attached to the RAMP denial letter. This option will allow the claim to be reviewed by the Board of Veterans Appeals under a program called the Board’s Early Applicability of Appeals Modernization (BEAAM). The primary benefits of RAMP is potentially faster decisions, earlier resolutions, and multiple review options.
As of May 14, 2018, 15,645 veterans have opted into RAMP from the legacy appeals process. From those cases pending in RAMP, 64.6% have opted into the Higher Level Review lane, and 35.4% have opted into the Supplemental Claim lane. The monetary total for RAMP payments thus far is $15.5 million. Contact your local NSO for any questions.