PIA

I have been fighting since 2003 for several things with VAC.

Good for you firebird , keep up the fight !

There reason was that with therapy and medication I have improved my physical and mental health. Mentally I have to use all of my energy every second of the day to prevent myself from killing someone and physically I am in pain throughout my body every second of the day. They took the words from my medical information that helps them in there defence and ignored the words in my medical information that matter to the Veteran's wellbeing. Thanks for the support. I believe that there are two levels of appeal after a review , so if my review is unsuccessful I will proceed with an appeal.

Sorry to hear that firebird , I know your a fighter an good for you for taking it to the next level.

Danny brings up a good point an just to add to his point I posted the other day in the Ombudsman section of the forum ( Veterans Ombudsman Success Stories ) in one of those success stories it explains how that office did help a Veteran get approved for PIA after originally being denied , might be of a different circumstance than yours , not sure , but it worked for that Veteran so it may work for you if you choose to contact them.
Just trying to give you more options available to you other then your review , and - or to add on top of your review

Good! Phone the ombudsman and file a complaint at the same time. What was their excuse for denying you? Mine was because I was doing well in school. I have the paperwork to prove it.
Take it to the next level for sure 1993firebird!

I am taking it to the next level , a review.

Of coarse it wasnt! they hired more people thats where your pia claim money went. When are vets going to realize va/vrab is sucking up veterans compensation. get rid of them give medically released veterans a pension at the rate of the average canadian wage upon medical release problem solved tax payers save millions if not billions. A public inquire and audit would prove we would be better off and that we dont need them fkers. we are fighting va for that very thing in elb pia etc etc and we are paying them salarys and pensions to stop us from receiving entitled money. WHAT FKN IDIOTS WE ARE!!!!

Well look again 1993firebird as my claim for PIA was not granted.

I thought I would post this for anyone like me, who was trying to find how VAC determines your PIA grade Level.
As was said by teen awhile back, VAC and the OVO are now reworking this policy. The new PIA egliability levels should hopefully, be defined in the
next few weeks. teen may be able to update us more when the time comes.

Extent of Impairment

Note: For the purposes of the following information, “frequent” means at least once per week, and persistent” means daily or almost daily.

Grade 1: Most severe level of physical, functional and/or mental impairment. To determine that Veterans have this extent of impairment, they must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Functionally, these Veterans:
require long-term hospitalizations; or
are approaching the need for institutionalization or be institutionalized; or
require daily physical assistance with all activities of daily living (ADL); or
level of assistance required to perform ADLs has increased compared to Grade 2; or
daily supervision and are not considered safe when left alone.OR
Physically, these Veterans include those who have:
quadriplegia; or
paraplegia; or
bilateral upper extremity amputation (at or above wrist); or
bilateral lower extremity amputation (at or above the ankle).OR
Mentally, these Veterans:
show obvious signs and behaviour that are influenced by delusions or hallucinations not controlled with psychiatric care and demonstrate gross impairment in communication or judgement i.e. grossly inappropriate, incoherent or mute; or
require total care and supervision in the home or an institutionalized setting.

Grade 2: Lesser extent of functional, mental and/or physical impairment than those in Grade 1. To determine that Veterans have this extent of impairment, they must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Functionally, theseVeterans:
require daily physical assistance in performing 4 activities of daily living (ADL); or
level of assistance required to perform ADLs has increased compared to Grade 3; or
requires daily supervision and is considered safe when left alone for very short periods of time, such as 2 to 3 hours during the day, or 5 to 6 hours overnight.OR
Physically, these Veterans include those who have:
a complete and permanent loss of vision; or
irrecoverable loss of use of an upper and lower limb; or
a single upper or lower limb amputation at the hip or shoulder (no viable stump); or
double limb amputations, i.e. at or above the ankle for the lower extremity and at or above the wrist for the involved upper extremity (viable stump).OR
Mentally, these Veterans include those who:
suffer from a psychiatric condition with persistent symptoms of extreme impairment of one’s ability to think clearly, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, understand reality and behave appropriately. There is overt evidence of the disease, chronic psychotic illness; or
suffer from a psychiatric condition which require long periods of inpatient hospital care or a combination of inpatient hospital care and outpatient care (greater than 8 weeks, cumulative, within a 6 month period); e.g. a full time day program; or
require recurrent hospitalization, i.e. greater than 3 times per year, without recovery.

Grade 3: Lesser extent of functional, mental and/or physical impairment than those in Grade 2. To determine that Veterans have this extent of impairment, they must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Functionally, these Veterans:
require physical assistance for 4 activities of daily living; or
require supervision on at least a twice per week basis for at least one hour per visit, and is considered safe when left alone for longer periods of time.OR
Physically, these Veterans include those who have:
a total and permanent loss of hearing; or
a total and permanent loss of speech; or
a single upper extremity amputation at or above the elbow; or
a single lower amputation at or above the knee; or
irrecoverable loss of use of a limb.OR
Mentally:
these Veterans suffer from severe and frequent symptoms of moderate to extreme impairment of one’s ability to think clearly, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, understand reality and behave appropriately causing considerable distress; or
these Veterans suffer from persistent depressive and anxiety symptoms causing persistent distress requiring chronic use (greater than 2 years) of medication and psychiatric care with no period of sustained recovery and all recreational and social activities are abandoned.
Supplement Eligibility

The PIA supplement is payable to a Veteran who:
is in receipt of PIA (see the Eligibility section of this policy); and
has been determined to be “totally and permanently incapacitated” (TPI.)
Veterans who have been approved for rehabilitation services may be determined to be “totally and permanently incapacitated” if the Veteran is incapacitated by a permanent physical or mental health problem, for which rehabilitation services were approved, that prevents the Veteran from performing any occupation that would be considered to be suitable and gainful employment. For guidance regarding the TPI determination, see the Totally and Permanently Incapacitated policy.

Based on that , I qualify for the lowest level and the supplement as I am TPI , so I am looking at $1,630 a month.

Permanent Impairment Allowance and Total and Permanent Incapacity



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•The Permanent Impairment Allowance (PIA) provides Canadian Armed Forces’ Veterans with compensation for lost employment potential and career advancement opportunities due to a service-related permanent and severe impairment.
•The Allowance is a taxable, monthly benefit—payable for life.
• Canadian Armed Forces Veterans may qualify for the Permanent Impairment Allowance if they have: ◦a severe and permanent impairment caused by military service for which they have received a disability benefit, and
◦a VAC-approved application for rehabilitation services.

•As of March 31, 2014, out of the 1,647 Veterans who were in receipt of the Permanent Impairment Allowance, 1,320 Veterans (80%) were also deemed totally and permanently incapacitated and receive the Permanent Impairment Allowance Supplement in addition to the Permanent Impairment Allowance.
•Veterans deemed totally and permanently incapacitated could have any health condition that prevents them from earning the minimum income threshold of their pre-release salary (66 2/3%).
•Veterans who are totally and permanently incapacitated may be eligible for the Permanent Impairment Allowance if they have a permanent and severe impairment caused by military service such as loss of limbs, a severe and permanent psychiatric condition or a permanent requirement for assistance with most activities of daily living.
•The Permanent Impairment Allowance grade levels are based on the extent of the impairment. Generally, the greater the level of impairment, the greater the impact on employment potential and career advancement opportunities.
•Those who do not have a severe and permanent impairment caused by military service and who are not deemed totally and permanently incapacitated for conditions which are not related to their military service may still be eligible to receive other related benefits and services available through Veterans Affairs Canada.
• Monthly 2014 rates for the Permanent Impairment Allowance: ◦Grade I – $1,724.65
◦Grade II – $1,149.78
◦Grade III – $574.89

•The highest level of compensation (Grade I) is for Veterans with the most severe physical, functional and/or mental impairment—for example, those who have quadriplegia or require total care and supervision.
•The middle level of compensation (Grade II) is for Veterans with impairments such as a single or double limb amputation or that require recurrent hospitalization for a psychiatric condition.
•The lowest level of compensation (Grade III) is for Veterans with less severe impairments such as requiring chronic use of medication and psychiatric care for depressive and anxiety symptoms.
•Veterans who receive the Permanent Impairment Allowance, and who are deemed to be totally and permanently incapacitated, are also eligible for the Permanent Impairment Allowance Supplement.
•This supplement is a taxable, monthly benefit, payable for life to those in receipt of the Permanent Impairment Allowance and, due to the level of their disability, are not capable of suitable gainful employment.
• Canadian Armed Forces Veterans may qualify for the Permanent Impairment Allowance Supplement if they are: ◦in receipt of the Permanent Impairment Allowance, and
◦have been determined to be "totally and permanently incapacitated."

•The 2014 Permanent Impairment Allowance Supplement rate is $1,056.96 per month.
•Since implementation, more than 1,600 Veterans have received the Permanent Impairment Allowance, and more than 1,300 have received the Permanent Impairment Supplement.
•Veterans who have been determined to be totally and permanently incapacitated but are not eligible for the Permanent Impairment Allowance are still eligible to receive the Earnings Loss Benefit, which ensures the eligible Veterans’ incomes don’t fall below 75% of their gross pre-release military salary.
•A host of benefits are available for Veterans and if they are not eligible for one type of benefit, others are available.
•The 2013 Life After Service Study notes that Regular Force Veterans are earning close to $70,000 a year or approximately $5,833 a month. For Reserve Class C Veterans, average income increased from $66,300 pre-release to $71,700 by eight years post-release; for Reserve Class A/B Veterans, the increase was from $35,300 to $60,300. Rates of low income for all three groups of Veterans were less than that of other Canadians.
•For a full list of available benefits, please visit veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/resources/benefits/allbenefits


here is the link

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/news/vac-responds/just-the-facts/permanent-impairment-allowance

propat

I believe that the OVO and VAC, are working at defining the criteria for each level, and will make them public when they are done. I think that the level of secrecy behind the PIA, has allowed VAC to minimize payments, because nobody can properly question the level they are given.

6 months wait , back logged.

I don't know where to find such criteria. I've looked. I think it is an internal memo handled by VAC on a case by case basis, but if so...by what guidelines to they follow? I think a disabling injury, pensioned by VAC, is in fact a permanent impairment. Just the name PIA makes me think we all should receive same. Mailed my forms to Matane PQ last week. Now the wait begins.
Sea-side Sap, shuckin shells...

Does anyone know the criteria for each level of PIA?