The exam form
The examiner fills out VA's "Diabetes Mellitus" form (a Disability Benefits Questionnaire, or DBQ). See the form on VA.gov
Form version checked: Updated on 2026-03-16 (v26_1).
What the exam is for
The exam records your diabetes diagnosis and how it's treated. It also records hospital stays, provider visits, and other problems diabetes causes. Type 2 diabetes is on VA's Agent Orange presumptive list (conditions VA presumes are linked to exposure).
What the examiner will ask and measure
- Your diagnosis: type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or another related diagnosis.
- Treatment: diet, pills (oral hypoglycemic agents), insulin (one shot a day or more than one), or something else.
- Regulation of activities: whether you must limit what you do as part of managing your diabetes, with examples. The form defines it as avoiding strenuous (hard) work and recreation to prevent low blood sugar episodes.
- Provider visits: how often you see your diabetes provider for ketoacidosis, and for low blood sugar: less than twice a month, twice a month, or weekly.
- Hospital stays in the past 12 months, counted apart for ketoacidosis and for low blood sugar reactions: none, 1, 2, or 3 or more.
- Weight and strength: whether diabetes has made you lose weight and strength without trying. If so, how much of your baseline weight you've lost. Baseline weight means your average weight in the two years before diabetes started.
- Problems diabetes causes: nerve problems in your arms or legs (diabetic peripheral neuropathy), kidney problems, and eye problems (diabetic retinopathy). Each gets its own exam form. An eye doctor must do the eye form.
- Other conditions caused or made worse by diabetes, such as sexual problems, heart problems, high blood pressure, poor circulation, stroke, skin conditions or other eye conditions.
- The nerve form, if you have diabetic nerve problems: pain, tingling and numbness in each arm and leg; tests of strength, reflexes and feeling (light touch, vibration, cold and position); muscle loss; and any cane, brace, walker or wheelchair and how often you use it. That form says a nerve test (EMG) is rarely needed for this diagnosis.
- Lab tests: the tests used to diagnose you, and your most recent A1C and fasting blood sugar tests. If results are in your records, repeat testing isn't required. VA doesn't require a glucose tolerance test.
- How diabetes affects work tasks like standing, walking, lifting and sitting.
Be ready to describe
- Every diabetes medicine: insulin (how many shots a day), pills, and when you started each one.
- Whether a provider put you on a restricted diet, and what it limits.
- Things you avoid doing to keep your blood sugar from dropping, with examples, and whether a provider told you to.
- Hospital stays and provider visits for low blood sugar or ketoacidosis in the past year, with dates.
- Weight and strength you've lost without trying, and about what you weighed before diabetes started.
- Nerve, kidney, eye or sexual problems, or other problems your doctors have linked to diabetes.
Common mistakes
- Not mentioning what you avoid doing because of low blood sugar. The form asks, and VA's rule counts it.
- Guessing how many hospital stays or provider visits you've had. Check your records or calendar before the exam.
- Not mentioning a restricted diet a provider gave you. Every level of VA's diabetes rule mentions diet.
- Leaving out problems diabetes causes. Each one needs to be on record, whether it's rated on its own or as part of the diabetes.
How VA rates it
VA rates diabetes mostly on what it takes to manage it. That means diet, pills or insulin, and whether you must limit what you do (regulation of activities). Higher levels also look at hospital stays and provider visits for low blood sugar or ketoacidosis, weight loss, and other problems diabetes causes. Problems serious enough to be paid on their own are rated on their own, unless VA uses them for the top level. VA changed its rules for diabetes in December 2017.
In plain English
- What "regulation of activities" means: The rule itself defines it as avoiding strenuous work and recreational activities (avoidance of strenuous occupational and recreational activities).
- 10%: Your diabetes can be managed by a restricted diet alone.
- 20%: You need one or more insulin shots a day and a restricted diet; or pills that lower blood sugar (an oral hypoglycemic agent) and a restricted diet.
- 40%: You need one or more insulin shots a day, a restricted diet, and regulation of activities.
- 60%: You need one or more insulin shots a day, a restricted diet, and regulation of activities. You also have episodes of ketoacidosis or low blood sugar reactions (hypoglycemic reactions) that need one or two hospital stays a year or visits to your diabetes provider twice a month. You also have complications that would not be compensable (not high enough to be paid) if rated on their own.
- 100%: You need more than one insulin shot a day, a restricted diet, and regulation of activities. You also have episodes of ketoacidosis or low blood sugar reactions that need at least three hospital stays a year or weekly visits to your diabetes provider. You also have either weight and strength loss that keeps getting worse, or complications that would be compensable (high enough to be paid) if rated on their own.
- Complications: Complications that would be compensable on their own, such as nerve, kidney or eye problems, are rated separately, unless they're part of what supports the 100% level. Complications that wouldn't be compensable on their own are counted as part of the diabetes.
- Once diabetes is clearly diagnosed, VA doesn't ask for a glucose tolerance test just for the rating.
The regulation, word for word
Quoted from 38 CFR Part 4 (current as of October 16, 2026). This is what VA applies. The plain-English version above is our summary of it.
| Criteria | Rating |
|---|
| 7913 Diabetes mellitus: | |
| Requiring more than one daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities (avoidance of strenuous occupational and recreational activities) with episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions requiring at least three hospitalizations per year or weekly visits to a diabetic care provider, plus either progressive loss of weight and strength or complications that would be compensable if separately evaluated | 100 |
| Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities with episodes of ketoacidosis or hypoglycemic reactions requiring one or two hospitalizations per year or twice a month visits to a diabetic care provider, plus complications that would not be compensable if separately evaluated | 60 |
| Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin, restricted diet, and regulation of activities | 40 |
| Requiring one or more daily injection of insulin and restricted diet, or; oral hypoglycemic agent and restricted diet | 20 |
| Manageable by restricted diet only | 10 |
| Note (1): Evaluate compensable complications of diabetes separately unless they are part of the criteria used to support a 100-percent evaluation. Noncompensable complications are considered part of the diabetic process under DC 7913. | |
| Note (2): When diabetes mellitus has been conclusively diagnosed, do not request a glucose tolerance test solely for rating purposes. | |
Related
About every C&P exam
What is it?
After you file a claim, VA may ask you to have a claim exam, also called a compensation and pension (C&P) exam. It helps VA decide whether your condition is connected to your service, and how severe it is. It isn't treatment: the examiner won't treat you, prescribe medicine or refer you to anyone.
Who does it?
A VA provider or a provider from one of VA's exam contractors (Loyal Source, OptumServe, QTC or VES). VA picks; you can't choose. Hearing, mental health, eye and dental exams are done by specialists. For a reproductive, breast, rectal or mental health exam, or a claim related to military sexual trauma, you can ask for a male or female examiner.
How long does it take?
VA says anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or more, depending on what you claimed. Some exams are by phone or video. If you claimed more than one condition, VA tries to schedule them on the same day.
Does the examiner decide my claim?
No. The examiner writes a report on a standard form (a Disability Benefits Questionnaire, or DBQ) and sends it to VA. VA decides your claim using all the evidence: the report, your medical and service records, and statements from you and others. The examiner can't tell you the results or answer questions about your claim.
Does everyone get one?
No. If your records already have what VA needs, VA can decide from the records alone (VA calls this Acceptable Clinical Evidence, or ACE).
What if I can't make it?
Call the number on your appointment letter at least 48 hours ahead to reschedule. Missing an exam delays your claim. VA may decide your claim on the evidence it already has, and some claims, such as a claim for an increase, are denied (38 CFR 3.655). If you had a good reason, such as being in the hospital or a death in your family, tell VA and ask for a new exam.
What should I bring?
VA says you don't need to bring anything. Send any new medical records to VA before the exam, because the examiner can't send them in for you. Arrive 15 minutes early and wear clothes you can move in. Many veterans find it helps to bring a short list of their symptoms, medicines and side effects, and key dates, so nothing is forgotten.
Can someone come with me?
You can ask the examiner. They may ask family members or caregivers to wait outside. For a sensitive physical exam, you can ask for a chaperone in the room.
Can I get a copy of the report?
Yes. Ask VA with a Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act request (VA Form 20-10206). VetEZ Claim can help you fill it out and send it.
Can my own doctor fill out the form instead?
For many conditions, yes. VA publishes the exam forms (DBQs) your own doctor can fill out and you can send in. VA doesn't pay for this. A few exam forms are for VA's own examiners.
Checked against VA's forms and rules on October 20, 2026. General information only, not medical or legal advice about your claim. VA decides every claim.
