Anemia — VA Disability Ratings (DC 7700 Was Removed in 2018)

Diagnostic Code 7700 · 38 CFR §4.117

What Is It?

If you have searched for the VA rating for anemia and found a table running 0, 10, 30, 70, and 100 percent keyed to hemoglobin levels — 10 g/dL, 8 g/dL, 7 g/dL, 5 g/dL — you have found the old schedule. That table belonged to DC 7700, and DC 7700 no longer exists. VA rewrote the hematologic and lymphatic portion of the rating schedule at 38 CFR §4.117 effective December 9, 2018, removed the general anemia code, and replaced it with codes named for specific causes. The current section begins at DC 7702 and there is no 7700 or 7701 in it at all. Two things changed at once, and both matter. First, there is no longer any such thing as a rating for anemia in general — your anemia is rated under the code that matches its cause. Second, the criteria stopped measuring hemoglobin and started measuring treatment burden: how many intravenous iron infusions you need in a year, whether you require continuous supplementation, whether you needed a transfusion at diagnosis, how many courses of immunosuppressive therapy you take. That is a real change in what evidence wins a claim, and most published guides — including calculators and forum posts that veterans rely on — still show the removed table. This page maps where each kind of anemia now goes, and what each of those codes actually asks for. If you already hold an evaluation assigned under the old criteria, the rewrite by itself cannot reduce it. 38 CFR §3.951(a) states the substantive rule: a readjustment to the rating schedule "shall not be grounds for reduction of a disability rating in effect on the date of the readjustment unless medical evidence establishes that the disability to be evaluated has actually improved." An evaluation continuously held at or above its level for 20 years cannot be reduced at all except on a showing of fraud (§3.951(b)), and service connection in effect 10 years cannot be severed except for fraud or a defect in the record of service (§3.957). On top of those, any reduction must follow the procedures in §3.105(e) — a written proposal setting out all material facts and reasons, 60 days to submit evidence, and 30 days to request a predetermination hearing under §3.105(i).

Rating Criteria

Evidence Needed

The first job is identifying which code your anemia belongs under, because that decides everything after it. Get the workup that names the cause: iron studies with ferritin, B12 and folate levels, methylmalonic acid, intrinsic factor and parietal cell antibodies, a reticulocyte count, hemolysis markers such as LDH, haptoglobin and bilirubin, a hemoglobin electrophoresis if sickle cell is in question, and a bone marrow biopsy where aplastic anemia or a marrow disorder is suspected. If you bleed, the source matters enormously: endoscopy, colonoscopy, stool occult blood testing, and gynecologic records, because the note under DC 7720 directs that iron deficiency anemia due to blood loss be evaluated under the criteria for the condition causing the loss rather than as anemia. Then gather what the current criteria actually count: infusion dates, prescription and refill histories proving continuous treatment, transfusion records, and the dates any parenteral therapy started and stopped.

C&P Exam Tips

Go in knowing which code applies to you and say it. An examiner asked to evaluate anemia in the abstract has no criteria to work from, because the schedule no longer contains a general anemia code. Then give the numbers the current criteria count: how many iron infusions in the past twelve months and when, whether you take supplementation continuously and in what form, whether you were transfused at diagnosis, how many courses of immunosuppressive therapy you have had in a year. Bring dates on paper. If you have neurologic symptoms from B12 deficiency — numbness, balance trouble in the dark, memory problems — describe them specifically, because they are evaluated separately under the neurological codes rather than inside the anemia evaluation. Do not stop treatment before an examination in order to look worse; the record already shows what you take, and it is dangerous.

How to File

File on VA Form 21-526EZ naming the specific anemia rather than anemia alone, because the code follows the cause: iron deficiency under DC 7720, folic acid deficiency under DC 7721, pernicious anemia or B12 deficiency under DC 7722, acquired hemolytic anemia under DC 7723, aplastic anemia under DC 7716, sickle cell disease under DC 7714. If you are unsure which applies, file the diagnosis you have and attach the full workup so the rater can code it correctly. If the anemia stems from blood loss caused by a service-connected condition, name that condition and cite 38 CFR §3.310, and expect the evaluation to be made under that condition's criteria per the note in DC 7720. If it stems from a medication taken for a service-connected disability — metformin, long-term acid suppression, methotrexate — file it as secondary and supply the prescription history.

Common Mistakes

The biggest mistake is preparing a claim against a code that was removed almost eight years ago. Veterans still arrive with folders of hemoglobin values organized around the 0/10/30/70/100 table because that is what nearly every published guide shows, and none of those thresholds appear anywhere in the current 38 CFR §4.117. The second is filing for anemia as a single undifferentiated condition, which leaves the rater to guess at a code; the schedule now requires the cause to be named. The third is missing the blood-loss note under DC 7720, which sends anemia caused by bleeding to the criteria for the bleeding condition instead. The fourth is not documenting continuous treatment, since continuous is the word that separates 10 percent from 0 percent in three of these codes and a supplement nobody wrote down is a supplement VA cannot see. The fifth is leaving the neurologic residuals of B12 deficiency unclaimed when they are separately evaluated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there still a VA rating for anemia?

Yes, but not a single one. VA removed DC 7700, the general anemia code, when it revised 38 CFR §4.117 effective December 9, 2018. The current section runs from DC 7702 to DC 7725 and contains no 7700 or 7701. Anemia is now rated under the code matching its cause — iron deficiency at DC 7720, folic acid deficiency at DC 7721, pernicious anemia and B12 deficiency at DC 7722, acquired hemolytic anemia at DC 7723, aplastic anemia at DC 7716, sickle cell disease at DC 7714. Which one applies is a medical question that the workup answers.

Why do so many sites still show the hemoglobin table?

Because the change was quiet and the old table was widely copied. The pre-2018 code rated anemia on hemoglobin thresholds around 10, 8, 7, and 5 g/dL with tiers at 10, 30, 70, and 100 percent, and that table is still reproduced across guides, calculators, forum posts, and even some representative training material. It has not been in force since December 9, 2018. If a source tells you your hemoglobin of 9 g/dL is worth 30 percent, it is quoting a schedule that was not in effect when your claim was decided.

My rating was assigned under the old criteria. Will it be reduced?

No — not because of the rewrite. 38 CFR §3.951(a) provides that a readjustment to the rating schedule is not grounds for reducing an evaluation in effect on the date of the readjustment unless medical evidence establishes that the disability has actually improved. If your evaluation has been continuously at or above its level for 20 years, §3.951(b) protects it outright except on a showing of fraud, and service connection held for 10 years cannot be severed under §3.957 except for fraud or a defect in the record of service. Separately from all of that, any reduction has to run through §3.105(e): a written proposal setting out all material facts and reasons, 60 days to submit evidence, and — under §3.105(i) — 30 days from the date of the notice to request a predetermination hearing. What VA would need is evidence of actual improvement in your condition, not a change in the code.

What if my anemia is caused by bleeding?

Then it is likely evaluated somewhere other than the anemia codes. A note attached to DC 7720 provides that iron deficiency anemia due to blood loss is not evaluated under that code, and directs that it be evaluated under the criteria for the condition causing the blood loss. So anemia from a service-connected bleeding ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease, hemorrhoids, or heavy uterine bleeding is considered as part of that condition's picture. The workup identifying the bleeding source therefore matters as much as the blood count itself.

What evidence matters now that hemoglobin does not set the rating?

Treatment records with dates. Infusion center notes showing each intravenous iron dose so the count within a 12-month period can be established; prescriptions and refill histories proving supplementation is continuous rather than occasional; transfusion records; and the start and stop dates of any parenteral therapy, which drive both the 100 percent level under DC 7722 and the mandatory examination six months afterward. Lab values still establish the diagnosis and still belong in the file, but they no longer determine the percentage.