VA Decision Letter Interpreter

Your privacy and the security of your information are our top priority. Before your letter is processed, all sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, file numbers, names, and addresses is automatically removed. Sometimes things get missed, so before you hit send to have the letter reviewed by AI you will be shown EXACTLY what will be sent, and if you see any personal information the scanner missed you can just click on the word or number and it will be removed. You will have 100% certainty that your personal information is cleaned from the transmission. Your document is used only for immediate AI analysis and is not stored, saved, or logged at any point. Our interpreter carefully analyzes your letter by following structured guidance that tells the AI exactly what to look for. It cross-checks the VA's reasoning against the specific regulations cited and highlights common procedural errors. All regulatory references are pulled from a current snapshot of 38 CFR and M21-1, and every result is validated before it is shown to you. If the AI ever generates an incorrect or unsupported citation, it is removed, flagged, and clearly noted in the footnotes, never just passed through without explanation. You can use this tool with confidence, knowing your information is handled carefully and responsibly at every step.

Download a refined prompt to use with any AI tool

Strongly recommended: use our on-site Interpreter at the top of this page instead of downloading a prompt. The hosted Interpreter grounds every citation live against current 38 CFR + M21-1 + BVA corpus, validates output before showing it to you, strips your PII before any AI sees it, and flags hallucinated regulations. A downloaded prompt pasted into a free AI tool can do none of that, the AI is working from its own training data, not our verified sources.

New to rating decisions? Read the anatomy guide first to learn the difference between the narrative and the codesheet, and which one actually drives your payment.

If you still want a portable copy, download the prompt below and paste it into Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot, then paste the section of your VA letter below the prompt. The AI will follow the same structure our hosted Interpreter uses, but its citations come from its training data, not our live corpus, and it will not be able to flag hallucinated regulations.

Portable Prompt
Paste into any AI tool

The full instruction set our Interpreter is built on: M21-1 procedural rules, 38 CFR Part 4 framework, and condition-specific guidance for the 12 most-claimed disabilities.

  • Procedural rules: rating reductions, effective dates, Duty to Assist, benefit of the doubt, CUE, TDIU, SMC
  • Condition-specific M21-1 rules for PTSD, TBI, diabetes, sleep apnea, hearing loss, tinnitus, hypertension, migraines, arthritis, shoulder, scars, MST
  • Error-detection instructions
  • No account required

~5,500 words. Works with any AI tool that accepts pasted text.

The prompt is static text, no account or API key needed. For grounded interpretation with live citation validation, use our on-site Interpreter at the top of this page.

If I don't trust your tool, why should I use your prompt instead of just asking ChatGPT?

Pasting a VA letter into a raw AI gets you a generic summary. Our prompt was built from M21-1 (the VA's own adjudication manual), 38 CFR Part 4, and patterns we found across 1.9 million+ Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions. It tells the AI exactly what to look for and what mistakes the VA commonly makes.

Raw ChatGPT (no prompt)
  • May hallucinate or invent data
  • May lack important framing context
  • Summarizes what the letter says
  • May miss procedural errors
  • Can't spot wrong effective dates
  • Doesn't know reduction protections
  • Treats the VA's word as final
Our prompt
  • Provides AI with context and regulations to cite
  • Includes specific common DC codes
  • Flags rule violations by citation
  • Checks effective dates against 38 CFR §3.400
  • Catches missed Duty to Assist & benefit-of-the-doubt
  • Knows 5-year and 20-year reduction rules
  • Points you to your appeal options

How to use this with a scanned or photographed VA letter

  • Easiest: upload the image directly. Claude.ai, ChatGPT, and Google Gemini all read images. Paste the prompt in first, then drag or attach your letter photo or scan. No text extraction needed.
  • iPhone / iPad: open the photo in the Photos app, tap the text-recognition icon in the bottom-right corner, tap "Select All," then "Copy."
  • Android: open the photo in Google Photos, tap "Lens" at the bottom, tap the text on screen, tap "Select All," then "Copy."
  • Mac: open the image in Preview, right-click (or Control-click), choose "Copy Text" from the menu.
  • Windows 11: open Snipping Tool, capture the image, click the "Text Actions" button in the toolbar, then "Copy All Text."

Other VA questions not about this letter?

Use our general VA claims prompt. It covers rating criteria, appeals, SMC, TDIU, effective dates, rating protections, and more. Copy it into any free AI tool (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) and ask your question. Same “explain the regulations, don’t give advice” framing as our letter prompts.

Disclaimer: This tool provides a general interpretation of VA correspondence. It is not legal advice. VA letters can have legal implications. Always consult a VSO representative before making decisions based on any interpretation.
Sources & Freshness Our interpretations are grounded in the primary VA sources: M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual, 38 CFR Part 3 (Adjudication), and 38 CFR Part 4 (Rating Schedule). VA Policy Letters can update M21-1 between our refreshes. For any specific procedural question (especially before filing an HLR, Supplemental, or NOD), verify against the live source above and have a VSO representative review it. Content last reviewed: 2026-04-14  ·  AI training cutoff: Responses are generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 with a knowledge cutoff of early 2025; primary-source links above always win in a conflict.