The Evidence Brief October 2026: How to Win Your VA Claim with Strategy
THE EVIDENCE BRIEF by MRPY Professional Services | V5 - Oct 2026
Empowering lessons from real VA disability benefit claims
When is the right time to file a VA disability claim?
A lot of veterans ask me: "Should I file everything at once, or should I file one condition at a time?" And the thing is, it's not a one-size-fits-all situation.
A better question to ask is: "Is each condition actually ready to be filed?"
You might have one condition with a clear diagnosis, strong service records, a well-documented history, and the medical evidence needed to explain the connection... But at the same time, another condition might still need testing, and evaluation, missing records, or a better understanding of what's actually causing the symptoms.
Just because a veteran has two or more conditions doesn't mean they're all at the same place regarding VA claim filing.
There's also a balance between being prepared and waiting too long – filing dates can impact effective dates, and an Intent to File may preserve an earlier potential effective date while evidence is being gathered if the completed claim is filed within the required timeframe.
That said, you shouldn't rush an underdeveloped claim just to get something submitted.
Before filing a VA disability benefits claim, I think veterans should ask:
Do I have a current diagnosis or evidence of the condition?
What evidence supports what happened in service or the secondary relationship for the condition I'm claiming?
Are important records, testing, or evaluations still missing?
Is there a reason that waiting could affect my effective date?
Is the medical connection clear?
You might have several conditions that are ready at the same time. But sometimes one is ready, and another isn't. Regardless, it's always necessary to figure out what the evidence actually shows.
There's no universal strategy of "file everything together" or "file everything separately"; it's all case by case.
The right strategy is understanding what's ready, what's still missing, and what the consequences might be if you wait. Let's dive into this more for this months Evidence Brief to empower you for a successful VA claim.
– Tara Thompson, PA-C and Founder of MRPY Professional Services
This Month's Case Study: When a Nexus Letter misses the right evidence
A real example from a veteran – here's a common evidence-development problem we see from time to time (and what veterans can learn from it).
Case basics
What happened?
A veteran was seeking secondary service connection for a neurological condition. The file already included:
A confirmed current diagnosis
An established service-connected orthopedic condition
Treatment records for both conditions
A private Nexus Letter supporting a relationship between them
The veteran incorrectly assumed the claim simply needed another medical opinion after the initial evidence wasn't persuasive.
Why did the claim get denied by the VA?
The Nexus Letter discussed the medical relationship between the two conditions (the primary condition and the neurological secondary condition) – however, the veteran's records also documented another potential explanation for the neurological symptoms.
Since there was never any appropriate diagnostic testing conducted to determine which condition was actually responsible, this Nexus Letter just repeated the same unresolved assumption. But the evidence gap was diagnostic rather than argumentative!
How did the veteran fix the claim?
The veteran needed further medical evaluation in order to get diagnostic proof that their neurological condition was caused by another service-connected condition.
This included getting:
Review of the neurological history
Appropriate diagnostic testing
Evaluation of competing causes
Updated clinical findings
After that information was gathered, a provider was able to reasonably determine that the proposed secondary relationship was medically supportable.
What veterans can learn from this for their own VA disability claim
Before purchasing or obtaining additional evidence, get super clear on the actual medical problem.
Nexus Letters are a key component to many VA disability benefits claims, but you can't just slap a Nexus Letter on top of questionable medical evidence and call it a day. Sure, you can pay someone to write one regardless – but not all providers are considering the full picture when there's a paycheck to be collected.
Before seeking a Nexus Letter, veterans should ask themselves:
Is the diagnosis established?
Is the current severity documented?
Is the medical connection missing?
Is there an alternative cause that has not been evaluated?
Is objective testing needed?
Is the history itself incomplete?
Adding the wrong evidence may increase the size of the file without making the medical question any clearer. Evidence strategy starts with identifying the gap, not choosing the document you want before even knowing what's missing.
VA updates this month
News from the VA that veterans should be aware of
VA launches a new VA.gov account pilot
The VA launched a pilot program on 10/7 at six VA medical centers allowing veterans to establish VA.gov accounts using CLEAR identity-verification stations with assistance from VA staff. This is currently available in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Orlando, Palo Alto, San Juan, and Washington, D.C. with potential expansion depending on results. This could make it easier for veterans to access benefits, healthcare, records, and claim information all in one place.
VA expands health information sharing with community providers
The VA recently reported continued efforts to improve electronic health-information exchange between VA and community providers, with the goal of giving both sides a more complete picture of a veteran's medical history. Since many veterans receive treatment both inside and outside VA, this could help with understanding complete medical history. It's good news, but don't assume every provider automatically has every record!
Read more here
This month's evidence tip
Something you can enhance your claim with today
Identify the question before you gather more evidence
What does your claim actually need? It's an important question to figure out. Before requesting another evaluation, DBQ, Nexus Letter, test, or set of records, write down the exact medical question the existing evidence does not answer.
Here are some examples of questions to ask before spending more time or money gathering evidence or medical opinions:
Diagnosis:
Do I actually have the condition being claimed?
Connection:
Why is this condition related to service or another service-connected condition?
Severity:
How severe is the condition now, and what functional limitations does it cause?
Timeline:
What evidence explains what happened between service and the current diagnosis?
Alternative causes:
Are there other medically plausible explanations that need to be addressed?
Action step
Take your current evidence and divide it into three categories:
Already established
Still unclear
Evidence that could answer the unclear question
This simple exercise can prevent unnecessary spending and unnecessary documentation, saving you time and money while making your claim a lot more compelling.
This month's takeaway:
Don't collect evidence without knowing what you need it to prove...
There's no such thing as a perfect claim – everything depends on your evidence. Sometimes there are gaps that need explaining, or missing pieces that require context. We always recommend not filing any secondary conditions until the primary condition is service-connected.
File when your claim is actually ready by using the intent to file window of 1 year, and always rule out other causes in order to strengthen your claim. You've got this!
Ready to strengthen the medical evidence for your VA claim?
We help veterans build strong, credible medical evidence for their VA disability claims. Discover how we make navigating the VA disability system simple:
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