The M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual details policies and procedures for Veterans Benefits Administration staff who develop and adjudicate U.S. veterans' disability benefit claims. The federal government produces thousands of procedural and policy manuals every year. The M-21 Manual stands out as notable because each year over 400,000 veterans file claims with the Veterans Benefits Administration for disability compensation, financial hardship pensions, vocational rehabilitation services, and burial benefits—with total program net outlays amounting to over $90 billion each year. Many of those 400,000 veterans and family members, along with veterans service officers; veterans law attorneys; Board of Veterans Appeals attorneys and judges; legal scholars; and federal judges consult the M-21 Manual to better understand VA policies and procedures for all programs administered by the Veterans Benefits Administration. For example, from 1992 through 2019, the Board of Veterans Appeals cited the M21-1 Manual 113,029 times, and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims cited the Manual 4,034 times. In addition, over 100 scholarly articles, mostly in law review journals, have cited the M21-1 Manual.
Features
In-text hyperlinked references
The Manual frequently references statutes, regulations, and case law relevant to the particular policy or procedure discussed therein. These references provide veterans law attorneys; claims agents and veterans service representatives; and individual veterans the opportunity to study a topic in depth, and to better understand the legal basis for a given policy or procedure.
Continuously updated
The Veterans Benefits Administration continuously updates the Manual, with the dates of any additions, deletions, or modifications provided within the Manual itself.
The Veterans Benefits Administration has made an effort to improve the usability of the Manual. Beginning in 2015 the agency transferred the Manual from the WARMS platform to their KnowVA Knowledge Base.
The M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual does not constitute law, in contrast to statutes, federal regulations, and federal case law. The Department of Veterans Affairs has stated, “he M21-1 is an internal manual used to convey guidance to VA adjudicators. It is not intended to establish substantive rules beyond those contained in statute and regulation.” At the same time, federal courts consult the M-21 Manual to determine if VA's actions conform with their own regulations, policies, and procedures, and to gain insight into the meaning and intent of VA regulations.
Does the ''M21-1 Manual'' constitute rule-making subject to review by the Federal Circuit?
Veterans advocacy organizations such as Disabled American Veterans and the National Organization of Veterans' Advocates have argued that many additions to the M21-1 Manual constitute rule-making, in the sense that the Federal Circuit has jurisdiction to review such changes upon direct appeal by a veteran. Heretofore, the Federal Circuit has concluded that M2-1 Manual provisions do not fall under the purview of the Court., a possible resolution to this controversy is pending before the Federal Circuit.
In February 2020, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General issued an audit report titled, Telehealth Public-Use Questionnaires Were Used Improperly to Determine Disability Benefits, which critiqued VBA's enforcement of the M21-1 Manual subsection titled, "Examination Report Requirements: Telehealth and Telemental Health Examinations".
