Separation Health Assessment for Service Members: Parts A and B

The Separation Health Assessment is the medical exam federal law requires before you leave active duty, and it produces the health record both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs use going forward. It has two parts: a medical history questionnaire you fill out yourself (Part A) and a clinical exam a credentialed provider performs after reviewing your answers and your service treatment records (Part B).¹ How carefully you handle each part shapes whether a later VA disability claim moves quickly or gets stuck.

Who Has to Take It

If you’re separating, retiring, or being released from active duty, federal law requires both a physical examination and a mental health assessment immediately before you go. Reserve and National Guard members are covered only if they’re retiring or being discharged or dismissed, not simply demobilizing from an activation.²

A waiver is possible if you had a physical within 12 months of your separation date, but it needs your consent and your unit commander’s concurrence.² Waiving is almost always the wrong call. Without a documented baseline at the moment you separate, tying a later condition back to your service becomes harder, and the burden shifts to you.

Part A: The Medical History Questionnaire

Part A is built around DD Form 2807-1, the Report of Medical History.³ You document every meaningful medical event from your time in service: surgeries, chronic conditions, training and deployment injuries, ongoing symptoms, current medications, allergies, hospitalization dates, and treating providers.

Part A also runs three built-in behavioral health screens. A five-question PTSD screen covers nightmares, avoidance, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, and persistent guilt tied to a traumatic event. A two-question depression screen asks about loss of interest and feeling down or hopeless over the previous two weeks. An alcohol use screen rounds it out.⁴ A positive screen becomes part of your permanent record and can support a future disability claim. Answer honestly rather than minimizing symptoms to move things along.

Before you submit the form, cross-check your answers against your official service treatment records. Dates from memory are often off by weeks or months, and any gap between what you write and what the record shows is something the examiner will have to resolve during Part B. If you saw civilian providers during service, pull those records in advance: diagnostic reports, imaging, specialist notes. Gaps in your medical history are gaps the VA may later use to deny a claim.

DD Form 2807-1 is a federal document, and knowingly false statements on it fall under 18 U.S.C. 1001, which carries up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.⁵ For most service members the real danger is the opposite direction: understating symptoms to avoid a medical hold or speed separation leaves a record that doesn’t reflect what was actually happening, and that omission can undermine a claim years later.

You have to complete Part A before your Part B appointment. Show up without it and the provider can’t perform the clinical assessment, which pushes your timeline back.

Part B: The Clinical Exam

Part B is a head-to-toe physical performed by a credentialed provider who documents findings on DD Form 2808 (Report of Medical Examination) or its electronic equivalent.⁶ Height, weight, pulse, and blood pressure get recorded, and the provider works through each body system, focusing on anywhere you flagged pain, injury, or functional limitations in Part A.

A threshold audiogram is mandatory and must have been completed within the previous six months.⁶ Vision testing, blood draws, and urinalysis may also be required depending on your health profile and the provider’s judgment. Hepatitis C testing is offered, and you can decline it. The examiner summarizes all defects and diagnoses in a dedicated block on DD Form 2808, and a reviewing official co-signs it.

Burn Pits and Toxic Exposure

Federal law now requires the separation physical to assess whether you were stationed where an open burn pit was used or otherwise exposed to toxic airborne chemicals or contaminants.² The requirement was added alongside broader PACT Act reforms that expanded VA healthcare and disability benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, radiation, and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, among other hazards.⁷

If you served anywhere near burn pits or other airborne hazards, make sure it shows up in your assessment. Flagging exposure in Part A ensures the examiner addresses it in Part B, and that documentation feeds directly into any future toxic exposure claim. Once you enroll in VA healthcare after separation, you’ll also receive a separate toxic exposure screening, with follow-ups at least every five years.⁷

TBI and PTSD Order

If your responses or service history point to a traumatic brain injury, the TBI evaluation has to be completed before the PTSD evaluation, because the PTSD assessment relies on findings from the TBI workup. If you were never formally diagnosed with a TBI on active duty, the diagnosis has to come from a psychiatrist, physiatrist, neurologist, or neurosurgeon before any residual effects can be rated for disability compensation. Providers performing these evaluations complete mandatory VA web-based training, including coursework on combat-related concussion.

The sequencing matters for your timeline. A delayed TBI evaluation stalls the PTSD evaluation behind it, and if that pushes past your separation date you can lose access to the fast-track BDD program entirely.

When and Where the Exam Happens

DoD Instruction 6040.46 sets three windows for performing the assessment:⁶

Within 30 days of separation: no additional validation needed.
31 to 90 days before separation: must be validated as current no more than 30 days before your separation date.
91 to 180 days before separation: acceptable when the VA performs the exam, and again must be validated as current within 30 days of separation.

A DoD-performed physical completed between 90 days and 12 months out may also be accepted, but the validation rules are stricter and follow your branch’s specific processing procedures.⁶

You can schedule at any military hospital, clinic, or VA facility.⁸ Which entity actually performs the exam depends on your situation. The VA handles it for service members filing disability claims through Benefits Delivery at Discharge or the Integrated Disability Evaluation System. If you aren’t filing a claim, or you have fewer than 90 days until separation and missed the BDD window, your nearest military treatment facility conducts it.¹ If you’re stationed overseas, coordinate through your branch rather than trying to schedule independently through the VA system.

How It Feeds a Benefits Delivery at Discharge Claim

BDD is the fastest route to a disability rating that starts paying on day one of veteran status, and the SHA is its medical backbone. To use it, you file your claim between 180 and 90 days before separation, and you must be available for 45 days from the date you submit the claim to attend any VA exams the agency schedules.⁹ You also have to complete all phases of the VA and DoD separation exam process before your release date.¹⁰

Some situations disqualify you from BDD, including cases involving serious illness, terminal illness, or loss of a body part. If any of those apply, or you missed the 90-day cutoff, you can still file through the Fully Developed Claim program or the standard claims process after separation.⁹ The practical difference is real. BDD claims are often decided around the time you separate, so benefits can begin immediately. Standard claims filed after discharge can take months, and you receive nothing during the gap.

With fewer than 90 days left, file a standard pre-discharge claim anyway. Submit whatever supporting evidence you have — you don’t need to wait until after separation to start.¹⁰ The VA will gather more evidence once you’re out, but getting into the system early still shortens the overall wait.

If You’re Referred to a Medical Board

If your command refers you for a medical evaluation board because a condition might make you unfit for duty, you enter the Integrated Disability Evaluation System rather than the standard separation track. Part A of the SHA is required as part of the referral, and a VA Military Services Coordinator then helps you file the disability claim and schedule Part B.¹ IDES runs parallel to the medical board, so both the DoD fitness determination and the VA disability rating draw from the same exam findings. For most service members with complex medical situations, this is the route, and the SHA forms the evidentiary foundation for everything that follows.

After the Exam

Once the provider completes Part B, the finalized data is uploaded into the electronic health record and linked to your permanent military and veteran record. If you filed through BDD, the VA has immediate access to the findings and can begin evaluating your claim before you officially transition out. You should get confirmation that the assessment was filed and integrated into your claim file. Keep any paper copies or confirmation numbers. Electronic systems fail occasionally, and backup documentation can save weeks if your records have to be re-submitted.

1
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Separation Health Assessment for Service Members
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 U.S.C. 1145 – Health Benefits
3
Washington Headquarters Services. DD Form 2807-1 – Report of Medical History
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. DBQ Separation Health Assessment – Part A
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
6
Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 6040.46 – Separation History and Physical Examination for the DoD Separation Health Assessment
7
Veterans Affairs. The PACT Act and Your VA Benefits
8
Health.mil. Separation Health Assessment
9
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Benefits Delivery at Discharge Program
10
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Pre-Discharge Claim