Citation Nr: 21075646 Decision Date: 12/21/21 Archive Date: 12/21/21 DOCKET NO. 16-59 478 DATE: December 21, 2021 REMANDED The increased rating claim for an acquired psychiatric disability, to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (acquired psychiatric disability) is remanded. The claim of a total disability rating based on an individual unemployability (TDIU) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Air Force from June 1977 to March 1981. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2016 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida. In August 2021, the Veteran testified at a virtual hearing (Board hearing) before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of this hearing is of record. However, the Board regrets further delay, as additional developments are required before the Board may render a fully-informed decision on the issues on appeal. 1. Acquired Psychiatric Disability The Veteran asserts entitlement to an increased rating, in excess of 50 percent, for her service-connected acquired psychiatric disability. At her August 2021 Board hearing, she provided testimony that suggests that the severity of her acquired psychiatric may be more severe than her currently assigned, 50 percent disability rating for her acquired psychiatric disability. However, the current severity of her acquired psychiatric disability is not discernable because medical treatment records have not been updated to the claims file since 2016, and it has been more than five years since she underwent a VA examination for mental conditions (in July 2016). Therefore, a remand is required for the Regional Office to update the claims file with the most recent treatment records; and to schedule the Veteran for a contemporaneous VA examination for a mental disorders. 2. TDIU The Veteran asserts that she has been unable to work as a result of her acquired psychiatric disability. See November 2016 Notice of Disagreement; see also August 2021 Board Hearing Transcript. Pertinent to her assertions, when evidence of unemployability is submitted during the pendency of an appeal from an assigned disability rating, a claim for entitlement to TDIU is considered to be raised by record as "part and parcel" to the underlying claim. See Rice v. Shinseki, 22 Vet. App. 447, 453 54 (2009). Here, the Veteran's competent, credible statements about her inability to find work, as it relates to the underlying increased rating claim for an acquired psychiatric disability, constitutes a claim for a TDIU that has been raised by the record. Therefore, a remand is required for the Regional Office to provide the Veteran with a Form VA 21-8940: Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability, as well as an opportunity for the Veteran and/or her representative to submit additional evidence about her unemployability. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Contact the Veteran to inquire whether she has undergone any private treatment for her mental disorders. If so, obtain the requisite authorization and release; obtain and/or update all outstanding private and VA treatment records, especially treatment records from April 2016 to current; and associate them with the claims file. 2. After updating the claims file with the most recent treatment records, schedule the Veteran for a new VA examination to determine the current severity of her psychiatric disability. The appropriate disability benefits questionnaire (DBQ) form should be utilized for this disability. 3. Also, provide the Veteran with a VA Form 21-8940: Veteran's Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability, as well as all pertinent or related forms she may need for filing her TDIU claim, with instructions for completing each form. Additionally, the Veteran should be provided with an opportunity to identify or submit any pertinent, additional information or evidence that may be helpful to her TDIU claim. M. Tenner Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board V-N. Pratt, Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.