IDES, the MEB, and the PEB: How medical separation works before discharge
The DoD rating and the VA rating come out of the same exams and routinely disagree. That is by design: the PEB rates only the conditions that ended your career, while VA rates everything you claim. The most expensive IDES mistake is claiming only the unfitting conditions, because the 30 percent DoD line decides retirement versus severance, and severance gets clawed back from VA pay later.
How IDES connects DoD and VA
If you are being medically separated or retired, you will likely go through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System, known as IDES. It is designed so that one set of medical examinations serves both the Department of Defense decision about whether you can keep serving and the VA decision about your disability compensation. Done well, it means you can leave service with a VA rating already in hand.
The Medical Evaluation Board (MEB)
The process starts with the Medical Evaluation Board. The MEB documents the medical conditions that may make you unable to perform your duties. It does not assign a percentage. It gathers the medical record and refers the conditions that may be disqualifying to the next step.
The Physical Evaluation Board (PEB)
The Physical Evaluation Board decides whether you are fit or unfit for continued service. For each condition it finds unfitting, the PEB assigns a DoD disability percentage. That percentage drives your military outcome under 10 USC Chapter 61: a combined DoD rating of 30 percent or more for the unfitting conditions generally means medical retirement, while less than 30 percent generally means disability severance pay.
Why the VA number can differ from the DoD number
This surprises many service members. The PEB rates only the conditions that make you unfit for duty. VA rates every condition you claim, fit or unfit. So your VA combined rating is often higher than the DoD percentage, because VA is looking at the whole picture, including conditions that did not end your career but still affect your life. The two numbers serve different purposes and do not have to match.
How the shared exam process works
In IDES, VA conducts the examinations and proposes ratings while you are still in service. DoD uses the unfitting findings for its fit or unfit decision, and VA uses all of them to prepare your compensation rating, which can take effect the day after you separate.
Steps to protect your claim
- Claim every condition that affects you during the MEB, not only the obviously unfitting ones.
- Make sure each condition is in your medical record with current findings.
- Read the proposed VA ratings and correct any error in writing before separation.
- Understand whether your case points to medical retirement or severance, because severance pay can later be recouped from VA compensation.
This is educational. It is not legal advice. A VA accredited representative or a military legal assistance attorney can help you through an IDES case.
Sources
- VA, File a pre-discharge claim (BDD and IDES)
- DoD Instruction 1332.18 (Disability Evaluation System)
- 10 USC Chapter 61 (retirement or separation for physical disability)
- VA, How to file a VA disability claim