You filed your claim, went through the exams, got your disability rating, and depended on those benefits ever since. Unfortunately, a system originally built to speed up paperwork processing has grown into something far more powerful, and far more consequential for Veterans with established ratings.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), working with defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, has deployed artificial intelligence (AI) that doesn’t just process claims faster—it scans the entire record of your disability history, looking for patterns a human reviewer might never find.
Understanding how this technology works, and what it looks for, is essential to protect your disability rating and benefits. At the Law Office of Sean Kendall, our experienced VA disability lawyers help Veterans nationwide secure—and protect—the benefits they earned through service. Take a moment to learn more about what you should know, then contact us for a free consultation.
How Did the VA Build This Kind of System?
When Congress passed the PACT Act in 2022, the VA was suddenly responsible for processing an estimated 5 million additional Veterans’ claims. Hiring thousands of new employees wasn’t enough, so the agency partnered with Booz Allen Hamilton to build and deploy AI-powered solutions to automate the most labor-intensive parts of the claims process.
The result was a suite of tools that work in concert. The centerpiece, known as Smart Search, is an AI-powered document processing service that has now ingested more than 1 billion Veteran documents. It allows VA claims processors to filter through the vast amounts of paperwork in a Veteran’s electronic file and identify only the content relevant to the specific claim, making document review up to nine times more efficient.
Each Veteran’s electronic claims folder contains an average of roughly 100 documents totaling approximately 1,300 pages of medical evidence, service history, and correspondence. Manually combing through that volume was always the bottleneck in the claims process. The AI eliminates that bottleneck entirely, and it never takes a lunch break.
The System Was Built to Approve Claims, But It Can Also Challenge Them
Booz Allen notes that these solutions provide the VA with a massive data repository for training future AI models. That’s a critical detail. The same infrastructure built to process PACT Act claims can be retrained—or redirected—toward a different goal: identifying Veterans whose current ratings may no longer reflect their documented medical condition.
In early 2026, the Disabled American Veterans organization raised formal concerns about the VA’s plan to use an AI tool to identify potential fraud in Disability Benefits Questionnaires going back more than 15 years, requesting answers from VA leadership about how this initiative would impact Veterans’ disability compensation benefits and what safeguards are in place to protect Veterans’ rights.
The DAV’s concerns reflect something every Veteran should absorb: the VA now has the technological capacity to conduct rating reviews at a scale no human workforce ever could. What once required a team of reviewers working through paper files over months can now be done algorithmically across millions of records in a fraction of the time.
What the AI Actually Looks For—and Why Are Your Records the Battlefield?
The AI doesn’t evaluate how you feel on a given day. It doesn’t account for the fact that you skipped a few appointments because you couldn’t get transportation, or that you stopped mentioning your knee pain because you assumed the VA already had it on file. The system reads your documented record, and if it shows gaps—periods without treatment, months without reported symptoms, prescriptions not filled—those gaps become data points that it can use against you.
VA’s 2025 AI inventory noted that its automated tools retrieve information and provide decision support, with plans to broaden coverage to more types of conditions and claims. So a greater percentage of claims will be eligible for automated processing going forward.
In practical terms, that means more of your file and your history will be subject to algorithmic review. A treatment gap from three years ago. A stretch of months with no reported symptoms. A prescription that wasn’t refilled. None of those things necessarily means your condition improved, but to a system trained on documentation patterns, they can look that way.
Why Gaps in Your Record Are So Dangerous
Think of your medical record as a continuous argument. Every appointment you keep, every symptom you report, and every medication you fill is a piece of evidence that your condition is real, ongoing, and consistent with your current rating. Every gap is a counterargument; an opening the VA’s AI can flag for human review.
This is especially significant because the system doesn’t need to prove you’ve recovered. It only needs to identify enough inconsistency in your records to recommend a closer look. From there, the burden shifts. A proposed rating reduction puts you in the position of defending a status you already earned—and doing so against a bureaucracy that now moves faster than ever.
What Veterans With Existing Ratings Should Do Right Now
This isn’t a reason to panic. However, it’s a reason to act. Protecting a disability rating in the age of VA AI means doing the same things that have always mattered in a successful claim, but doing them consistently, and with the awareness that a system that is faster and more exhaustive than any individual claims reviewer is now reading your records.
Here’s what matters most:
- Keep all medical appointments without gaps. Missing appointments creates breaks in your treatment history, and these are precisely what automated review systems flag. Even when your condition feels stable, consistent attendance documents that stability rather than leaving it open to interpretation.
- Report every symptom, every time. Don’t assume your doctor already knows. If your back still hurts, say so—and confirm that your doctor writes it down. A conversation that never makes it into your chart doesn’t exist as far as the AI scanning your eFolder is concerned.
- Take prescribed medications and attend required therapy. Non-compliance with prescribed treatment is a documented pattern that the VA can use to argue improvement, even when there hasn’t been any. Follow your treatment plan as directed, and if something isn’t working, tell your provider so the change is documented.
- Request and review your own medical records regularly. Errors, missing diagnoses, and mistakes are common in VA records. Review yours for accuracy, including any private medical evidence you’ve submitted, and report any discrepancies to your care team immediately. What isn’t documented correctly cannot protect you.
- Know that the VA is actively scanning your eFolder. Every document submitted to the VA, every DBQ, every medical record lives in a system that processes more than one billion Veterans documents. Treat your records accordingly.
How to Respond If the VA Proposes a Rating Reduction
Receiving a notice of proposed rating reduction is alarming. It can feel like the VA is moving the goalposts on awarded benefits. The most important thing to understand is that a proposed reduction isn’t a final decision; it’s an opening in a process that you have the right to contest.
When a notice arrives, time matters. The VA typically provides a window to respond before any reduction takes effect, and that window isn’t generous. A response needs to include updated medical evidence that supports the continuation of the current rating, documentation of ongoing symptoms and treatment, and—in many cases—a medical opinion that directly rebuts whatever the VA’s review found.
This isn’t a process that rewards improvisation. Veterans who respond without an advocate, a clear strategy, and the right supporting evidence are at a considerable disadvantage. The VA’s systems move quickly now. Your response needs to match that speed.
What a Veterans Disability Attorney Can Do That You Can't Do Alone
Appealing a rating reduction or fighting a proposed cut isn’t just about submitting paperwork. It requires knowing which arguments work before the VA and which ones don’t, understanding how to build a record that counters the AI’s findings, and knowing when to escalate a case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Sean Kendall, Attorney at Law, has handled Veterans disability claims since the founding of that court—participating in precedent-setting cases that shaped how Veterans’ rights are interpreted and defended at the federal level. Working with Veterans from every branch of service on claims involving physical disabilities, psychiatric conditions, and employment-related issues, the Law Office of Sean Kendall has spent decades going up against the VA and winning cases for clients who were told no.
The VA has a system that can scan a billion documents and flag patterns in your records before you ever receive a letter. Having an attorney who knows that system, understands your rights within it, and has the courtroom experience to press those rights all the way to a federal appeals court is not a luxury—it's a strategic necessity.
Your Rating Reflects Your Sacrifice. It Deserves a Real Defense.
The VA’s AI infrastructure isn’t necessarily an enemy, but it’s a powerful tool—and it can be redirected. Veterans who earned their ratings through years of service and documented suffering shouldn’t lose those benefits because an algorithm identified a treatment gap or flagged an inconsistency in a medical record that a human reviewer would have understood in context. You served. You earned these benefits. The Law Office of Sean Kendall is here to help you protect them.
