Intake Training Guide

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INTAKE
FOR COMPENSATION & PENSION

1

Table of Content
●

INTAKE OVERVIEW

3

●

ADDING ISSUES

39

●

INTAKE ACCESS

5

●

CONFIRMATIONS

36

●

SELECT FORM

9

●

UNIDENTIFIED ISSUES

42

●

SEARCH

12

●

INELIGIBLE ISSUES

46

●

REVIEW

15

●

EDITING ISSUES FROM VBMS 59

●

ADD ISSUES

20

●

SEARCH FOR ISSUES

63

●

REVIEW CONSIDRATIONS

33

●

SEND US FEEDBACK

67

●

SUBMIT END PRODUCT (EP)

35
2

Intake Caseflow
Caseflow Intake (Intake) is a web-based application designed to support the Appeals
Modernization Act (AMA). It will process AMA appeals for Veterans who have chosen the
new Supplemental Claim (SC) or Higher-Level Review (HLR) options as well as those who
have chosen to appeal directly to the Board through a Notice of Disagreement (NOD).
Intake will serve as the single data input system for this process, providing a source of truth
for AMA statutory metrics. Across the board, Intake performs numerous issue-level
validations, matching, and error checking, to capture the best possible data and reduce
processing overhead.

Intake Overview

3

Forms compatible with Caseflow Intake:

●

VA Form 20-0996 Request for Higher Level Review

●

VA Form 20-0995 Supplemental Claim Application

●

VA Form 10182 Notice of Disagreement

●

VA Form 21-4183 Statement In Support of Claim (RAMP)

●

RAMP Opt-In Election Form

Intake Overview

4

INTAKE ACCESS

Browser preference
Latest version of Google Chrome
and Internet Explorer are
recommended for Caseflow Intake

Intake Access

6

Requesting Access to Caseflow Intake

If you or your team needs access to Caseflow Intake, please
contact Martina Jones: martina.jones@va.gov

Intake Access

7

Access to Caseflow Intake
• Connect to the VA network
• Open your web browser
• Enter the URL https://appeals.cf.ds.va.gov/intake
• Sign in using your VA credentials
• You will then be taken to the Caseflow Intake Welcome page

Intake Access

8

INTAKING A FORM
Select Form

Step 1: Select Form

After you receive the AMA form or Notice of
Disagreement, the first step in the intake process is to
Select Form. Select the desired form from the “Which
form are you processing?” dropdown menu.

Select Form

10

Step 1: Select Form

Select Form

11

INTAKING A FORM
Search

Step 2: Search

Search

•

Type in the Veteran ID or SSN of the Veteran.

•

Even if the claimant in someone other than the Veteran, please search for the
Veteran whose benefits are under appeal.

13

Veteran ID Errors
There are several errors which you may encounter while searching.
Examples:
• Invalid file number: Veteran ID not found. Please enter a valid Veteran ID and try again.
• Veteran not accessible: You don't have permission to view this Veteran's information. It looks
like you do not have the necessary level of access to view this information. Please alert your manager
for further action.
• Veteran not valid: The Veteran's profile has missing or invalid information required to perform intake.
• Duplicate intake in progress: Already started processing this form. Another user has begun
intake on this file. Please confirm they will complete this intake, then move on to the next mail item.
• Something went wrong. Please try again. This is a system error. If the problem persists, please
contact Caseflow support.

Search

14

INTAKING A FORM
Review

Step 3: Review

Review

16

Step 3: Review – Headings Explained
• Benefit type (Comp, Pension or Non-Pension non-comp - 8 options total). The intake process for
compensation, pension and non-pension non-compensation lines of business is very similar.
• Receipt Date - The new AMA lanes have specific timelines for appeals’ adjudications. The date of the
intake is important and should be as accurate as possible. We use the receipt date as the date the review
was received.
• Claimant - The claimant can be the veteran or not, we use the Veteran ID to identify all cases associated
with the veteran. Social security number of the veteran is another way to identify the case.
• Claimant not in Database - If the clamant is not the veteran and we don’t have the claimant in our
database, you can do the following:
o If you have access to VBMS - you can add the claimant’s information to VBMS and refresh this page to
select claimant’s name.
o Ask someone on your team with access to VBMS to add the claimant

Review

17

Step 3: Input primary form information
• What is the Benefit Type? Choose the benefit type against which the appeal is being made.
• What is the Receipt Date of this form? Enter the date the form is received. This date is critical for the
collection of statutory metrics and should be as accurate as possible.
• Is the claimant someone other than the Veteran? If the Claimant is someone other than the Veteran,
select Yes. If the person who is claiming the benefit does not appear in the list, that person must be added
to the Corporate Database. Please follow the instructions on the screen to contact the appropriate
stakeholder.

Review

18

Did Claimant Agree to Withdraw from Legacy System?

Important Note: If the claimant did not check this box, then any legacy issues in their
appeal will be ineligible.

Review

19

INTAKING A FORM
Add Issues

Step 4: Add Issues

Add Issues

21

Step 4: Issues
§

§

Add Issues

Issues are the atomic unit of the Appeals
Modernization Act. Many statutory metrics will be
tracked at the Issue level.
As such, it is critically important to record each
issue exactly as the Veteran describes it in the
form.

22

Step 4: Review intake and add issues
•

Confirm that the primary review information (Name, Receipt Date, File Number, etc.)

•

is correct.

•

Begin adding issues from the form, exactly as the Veteran has described them.

•

If you make a mistake adding an issue, click the Remove icon to delete the issue.

•

Add all issues before finishing intake. Even if issues are unmatched, ineligible, or
otherwise difficult to understand, please intake them exactly as the Veteran has
described them.

Add Issues

23

First, click Add Issue

Add Issues

24

Next, select the known issue that the Veteran is describing
Emphysema effective date should be 10/10/2009

Add Issues

12/19/2018

25

Next, select the known issue that the Veteran is describing

●
●
●
●

Add Issues

When adding issues in Caseflow, we first show all rating issues the
veteran has.
You can see previous decisions and their dates, select a previous
issue if it is the same issue claimant has indicted in their form.
You can only add one issue at a time.
If you don’t see the issue then select “None of these match, see
more options.”

26

Next, select the issue category from the dropdown

Add Issues

27

Next, enter the decision date and issue description
Education effective date should be 10/12/2011

Add Issues

10/11/2018

28

Issues that cannot be categorized
If the issue identified by the Veteran cannot be
categorized, is difficult to understand, or has
other problems, click “None of these match, see
more options”

Add Issues

29

Transcribe the issue as best as possible.
This is something that needs to be looked at

Add Issues

30

Transcribe the issue as best as possible.
If you can’t intake issues based on the category
options, write down what veteran wrote and add
any notes you see pertinent.

Add Issues

31

Step 4: Review and submit the appeal

Add Issues

32

Review the Appeal – Things to Consider
ü

Before submitting the intake, make sure the number of issues are the same in the
intake as the number of issues written on the form

ü

Check that the dates are correct

ü

Check that each issue reflects the text stated by the claimant

ü

Make sure that you include any notes that might help the next person work the appeal

ü

It is possible that an issue will be highlighted as ineligible. This is expected for some
issues. It is important to record all the issues indicated by the Veteran, regardless of
their eligibility.

Add Issues

33

Submit the appeal

Add Issues

34

INTAKING A FORM
Confirmation

Confirmation

36

Confirmations
Every time an intake is completed, you will see a
confirmation page. From this page, you can start
a new intake, as well as review the information of
the previous intake.

Confirmation

37

ADDING ISSUES

Sometimes adding an issue to your intake might take
a bit more work – here are some special cases we
have identified.

39

Important Note
This information applies to decisions made
after February 18, 2019.
Decisions made before that must be appealed
under the legacy appeals process.

40

ADDING ISSUES
Unidentified Issues

Unidentified issues
Issues where we don’t (currently) know what decision the appellant
is contesting.
Example:
Sometimes the Veteran will write something that requires a little
more expertise to interpret.

Unidentified issues

42

Example:
Everything in my previous appeal

10/11/2018

Everything in my previous appeal

Unidentified issues

43

These unidentified issues can be resolved downstream, by editing the request issues on the decision review.

Unidentified issues

44

• Unidentified issues should be resolved before
making a decision on them.
• Unidentified issues that are never resolved will
be considered to have been ineligible.

Unidentified issues

45

ADDING ISSUES
Ineligible Issues

•

Users may encounter issues that are ineligible.

•

Ineligible issues are identified on the Add/ Review Issue page
and Confirmation page.

•

Follow SOP to notify the Veteran/ Claimant of ineligible issues.

Ineligible issues

47

As the Veteran/ Claimant navigates the appeal
process, some lanes selections have different
policy requirements for future decision appeals.
An appeal is ineligible:
• If the request is an HLR and same issue was last processed as an HLR
• If the request is a Board Appeal and the same issue was last processed
as a Board Appeal
• If the request is a HLR and same issue was last processed as a Board
Appeal

Ineligible issues

48

For all identified issues, we have some automated
eligibility checks.

Ineligible issues

49

An issue gets selected

Ineligible issues

Review page shows ineligibility

50

An issue is ineligible
...if the request is an HLR and same issue was last processed as an HLR
OR
...if the request is a Board Appeal and the same issue was last processed as
a Board Appeal.
Displayed Copy:
[Issue selected] is ineligible because it was last processed as a [HLR/Appeal] and this can't be
done twice in a row.

Ineligible issues

51

...if the request is a SC/ HLR/ Board Appeal and the
same issue is being processed in another lane
Displayed Copy:
[Issue selected] is ineligible because it's already under review as a [SC/HLR/Appeal].

Ineligible issues

52

...if the request is a Higher-Level Review and same issue
was last processed as a Board Appeal
Displayed Copy:
[Issue selected] is ineligible because it was last processed as a Board Appeal which can't be
followed by a Higher-Level Review.

Ineligible issues

53

...if Timeliness not exempted
If the issue has a decision date older than 1 year and the Veteran/ Claimant didn’t request an
“exemption to the date requirements.”
Displayed Copy:
[Issue selected] is ineligible because it has a prior decision date that's older than 1 year.

Ineligible issues

54

Past decision

Ineligible issues

Request exemption

55

If the requested issue has a decision date older than 1 year but applicant included a request to override.

Ineligible issues

56

If the requested issue has a decision date older than 1 year and applicant didn't include a request to override.

Ineligible issues

57

Ineligible issues will be saved to the Caseflow
database, and appear on the Add/Review
issues page.
They will not be developed or decided on.
Do not delete ineligible issues; they are critical
for developing statutory metrics.

Ineligible issues

58

Submitting the Appeal Creates an End Product (EP).
•

Finishing the intake triggers the creation of one or more EPs, depending on the structure
of the intake.

•

Sometimes there are system errors when creating EPs. If this happens, support will
automatically be notified and handle the exception. No further action is required on your
part.

•

Once an EP has been created: Please do not make any edits to this EP in SHARE!

EDITING ISSUES

Editing EPs in SHARE will disconnect them from Caseflow and remove their
statutory metrics reporting.

From VBMS
Add Issues

59

Issues must be edited in Caseflow
To edit an issue:
1.
2.
3.

Search for the file number with the EP you want to edit in VBMS
Click the EP with the issue you want to edit
Click the Edit in Caseflow button

This will take you to the Add/ Remove Issues page for that EP
in Caseflow.

Issues VBMS

60

1. Search for the file number

2. Click the EP to be edited

3. Click Edit in Caseflow

Issues VBMS

61

4. Edit the EP.
Note: In order to edit specific parts of any
given issue/ contention, you may need to
remove that issue and re-add it.
See the Adding Issues section for instructions
on adding issues.

5. Click the Save button.

Issues VBMS

62

SEARCH FOR ISSUES

If an intake is completed and you need to review the appeal
information, you can access the case via Search

Search for Issues

64

This page can show EPs as they are being created. You can see if there was an error with the creation of the
EP, and check the status of an intake.

Search for Issues

65

From the search results page, you can access the Case
Detail page for Board appeals.

Search for Issues

66

SEND US FEEDBACK

Send us feedback
If you run into a problem or have comments or requests, please
let us know!

68

THANK YOU

69



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