VA Claims Research Center

Original, data-driven analysis of the more than 1.9 million published decisions of the Board of Veterans' Appeals. Findings that answer the questions veterans actually ask, drawn from the record, refreshed weekly, and free to cite.

Original Research Reports

Our own analysis of the published record. Each finding in plain language, with the numbers in the page so they are free to cite.

60.7%
The Missing Nexus
The single most common reason the Board denies service connection is a missing medical nexus. See the split by element and by condition.
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59 → 20 mo
How Long a Board Appeal Takes
The 2019 AMA reform cut the median wait from about five years to under two. The wait by docket and by condition.
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41% vs 37%
The Theory Gap
The legal theory a claim is argued on tracks with how often the Board grants it. Secondary connection out-grants direct across the record.
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45% ↔ 21%
Presumptive & Toxic-Exposure Outcomes
Grant rates for Agent Orange, burn pits, PACT Act, Camp Lejeune, and radiation claims, and the one element most presumptive denials miss.
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16 → 44 pts
The Private-Opinion Edge
A private nexus opinion's grant-rate advantage at the Board nearly tripled over three decades. The widening gap, by decade and by condition.
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4.1M Issues
See the 1.9M BVA Cases at a Glance
Every published Board of Veterans' Appeals decision, 1992 to today, and what the full corpus shows about outcomes over time.
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94%
What Wins at the Board
Grant patterns and winning evidence across conditions, including the 94% grant rate when the medical opinion says "at least as likely as not."
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38,839
SMC Appeals
Special Monthly Compensation outcomes at the Board, broken down by SMC level, pathway, and the evidence that carried them.
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16% → 29%
The Rating Shift
The share of veterans rated 100% nearly doubled from 2019 to 2025. The climb in ratings, nationally and state by state.
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Data and Analytics Tools

Interactive data exploration tools drawn from the public record. Explore them yourself and research the raw data on your own.

Appeal Outcomes by ConditionAMA-era grant, remand, and wait, condition by condition. Judge AnalyticsGrant, denial, and remand rates for every Board judge. Veterans by StateCompensation recipients and rating bands, state by state. PFAS ExposureContaminated installations and the toxic-exposure link. Search the DecisionsFull-text search of 1.9 million Board decisions. Trending DenialsWhat the Board is denying right now, updated weekly. Rating Transition ExplorerHow ratings move up or down at the Board, condition by condition. Analogous BVA Decisions ResearchFind Board decisions with issues similar to your own. VA Claims PulseThe latest movement in VA claims volume and backlog. VA Appeals PulseAppeal wait times and 12-month trends for HLR, Supplemental, and the Board. Grant Rate by Representative TypeHow BVA appeals turned out by DAV, VFW, attorney, and other representative types. How the Board Uses 38 CFRGrant rate when the Board cites each rating regulation, section by section.
About this research. These reports are aggregate, encyclopedic analysis of published Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions. They describe patterns in the record; they are not legal advice and do not predict the outcome of any individual claim. The figures refresh weekly as new decisions are published. Every report is free to cite and link with attribution.
Prefer one page for everything? The Report Viewer puts every report above, plus live grant-rate, wait-time, and exposure breakdowns, in one two-pane hub.
For help with a specific claim, find a VA-accredited representative. More reports are added as the analysis grows.