A Compensation and Pension (C&P) examiner salary at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ran from $91,748 to $315,000 on 2026 postings with C&P in the job title. At Rank and Pay, we publish pay tables and pay guides, so every figure on this page lists its source and date.
The $91,748 floor comes from a physician assistant posting, and the $315,000 top comes from a physician posting. Examiners in a contractor's network are paid per exam and per Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ), at rates no contractor publishes. For the hiring steps, see our guide on how to become a C&P examiner.
- C&P Examiner Salary at a Glance
- VA Staff Examiner Pay
- Contractor Examiner Pay
- What VA Spends on Contract Exams
- What Changes a C&P Examiner Salary
- Steps to Find Your Own C&P Examiner Salary
- Limits of These Pay Figures
C&P Examiner Salary at a Glance
In 2026, VA staff postings covering C&P work ranged from $74,678 for an audiologist to $315,000 for a physician, and two salaried contractor ads ranged from $91,700 to $169,380.
| Route | Role | Pay figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| VA staff | Physician, Pay Table 1 (includes family medicine, internal medicine, primary care, psychiatry, neurology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation) | Tier 1: $124,308 to $315,000 Tier 2: $145,000 to $335,000 Tier 3: $165,000 to $350,000 | VA physician annual pay ranges, effective January 11, 2026 |
| VA staff | Physician (Compensation & Pension), Louis Stokes Cleveland VA, Parma, Ohio | $200,000 to $315,000 | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| VA staff | Physician (Compensation & Pension), VA Puget Sound, Tacoma | $250,000 to $300,000 | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| VA staff | Physician (Compensation & Pension), VA Northern California, McClellan | $280,000 to $300,000 | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| VA staff | Nurse Practitioner-Compensation & Pension, Parma, Ohio | $109,811 to $172,334 | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| VA staff | Physician Assistant-Compensation & Pension, Parma, Ohio | $91,748 to $161,577 | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| VA staff | Psychologist, General Schedule (GS) grade 13 | $90,925 (step 1) to $118,204 (step 10), base pay before locality | Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 2026 GS table |
| VA staff | Staff psychologist, Dallas (no C&P title) | $100,777 to $186,727 with locality | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| VA staff | Audiologist covering C&P exams, Temple, Texas, GS-11 to GS-12 | $74,678 to $116,362 | USAJOBS posting, 2026 |
| Contractor, salaried | Loyal Source Examiner Physician Assistant, Kansas City, Missouri | $139,380 to $169,380 a year | Job posting, October 16, 2026 |
| Contractor, salaried | OptumServe Travel Psychologist, about 75% travel | $91,700 to $163,700 a year | Job posting, October 9, 2026 |
| Contractor network, per exam | Veterans Evaluation Services (VES) and Leidos QTC Health Services (QTC) network examiners | Paid per exam and per DBQ at VES. No dollar rate published. | VES and QTC provider pages |
VA staff physicians hold the highest posted ranges, and Pay Table 1 reaches $350,000 at Tier 3. Where VA and a contractor posted the same kind of role, the ranges overlap. The Parma and Loyal Source physician assistant ranges share $139,380 to $161,577, and the Dallas and OptumServe psychologist ranges share $100,777 to $163,700.
The network row has no number because neither VES nor QTC publishes one.
VA Staff Examiner Pay
VA staff C&P examiners are paid on VA's own pay systems, and your license decides which system applies. VA health care positions are Title 38 excepted service jobs, and VA posts its C&P openings on USAJOBS.
Physicians
VA pays physicians from its physician pay ranges, which took effect January 11, 2026. Pay Table 1 covers specialties including family medicine, internal medicine, primary care, psychiatry, neurology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. Pay Table 1 runs from $124,308 to $315,000 at Tier 1, $145,000 to $335,000 at Tier 2, and $165,000 to $350,000 at Tier 3.
C&P is not a named assignment on the pay table, so the job postings give a closer read. The 2026 Physician (Compensation & Pension) posting at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA in Parma, Ohio, listed $200,000 to $315,000. VA Puget Sound in Tacoma listed $250,000 to $300,000, and VA Northern California in McClellan listed $280,000 to $300,000.
Those physician postings list duties that include DBQ exams and Acceptable Clinical Evidence (ACE) exams. In an ACE exam, you complete the DBQ from existing records, sometimes with a telephone interview, without an in-person exam.
Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
VA nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are paid under the VA locality pay system set by 38 U.S.C. 7451. Local facility surveys set those rates. The GS table does not apply to these jobs.
The 2026 Parma, Ohio posting for Nurse Practitioner-Compensation & Pension listed $109,811 to $172,334. The Physician Assistant-Compensation & Pension posting at the same facility listed $91,748 to $161,577. Because local facility surveys set NP and PA pay, treat the Parma ranges as figures for Parma.
Psychologists and Audiologists
VA psychologists are usually hired at GS-11 to GS-13, and GS-13 is the full-performance grade. The OPM 2026 GS table puts GS-13 base pay at $90,925 at step 1 and $118,204 at step 10, before locality pay is added. A 2026 VA staff psychologist posting in Dallas listed $100,777 to $186,727 with locality.
We found no 2026 VA psychologist posting with C&P in the title, so the Dallas range describes a general staff psychologist job. Initial mental disorders exams, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exams, need a psychiatrist or a licensed doctorate-level psychologist. The guide to which C&P exams each license can do covers the other exam types.
A 2026 VA audiologist posting in Temple, Texas, that covers C&P exams listed GS-11 to GS-12 and $74,678 to $116,362. For grade and step tables, see the GS pay scale guide.
Every VA staff examiner must complete and pass the required C&P training courses under Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive 1046(1). The C&P certification guide lists those courses.
Contractor Examiner Pay
Contractor C&P examiners are paid either a salary as an employee or a fee per exam as a network examiner, and only the salaried jobs show a dollar figure. VA's claim exam page names four contractors that perform exams for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). They are QTC, VES, OptumServe Health Services and Loyal Source Government Services.
Salaried Contractor Jobs
Loyal Source and OptumServe post salaried examiner jobs paid on a W-2. Loyal Source posted an Examiner Physician Assistant job in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 16, 2026, at $139,380 to $169,380 a year. That Loyal Source job is on-site Monday through Friday and exam-only, with no prescribing or treatment planning.
OptumServe posted a Travel Psychologist job on October 9, 2026, at $91,700 to $163,700 a year. The OptumServe role is a W-2 job with about 75% travel.
Both figures come from single job ads. They do not set pay for other roles or other cities at Loyal Source or OptumServe.
Per-Exam Network Pay
Network examiners at VES are independent contractors paid per exam and per DBQ. VES says its rates vary by geography and specialty, and it pays on the 1st and 15th of the month. QTC says payment depends on the terms of the provider's agreement.
Neither VES nor QTC publishes a dollar rate, and no contractor publishes a per-exam rate.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports in GAO-25-107483 that examiners may work for more than one contractor. The same report says a contractor may contract directly with an examiner.
VES says it pays for its onboarding training, which includes VA online modules, a 1 to 2 hour VES functional training and a 60 to 90 minute practice exam. QTC says it provides orientation and training before the first exam.
What VA Spends on Contract Exams
VA spent more than $5 billion on about 3.2 million contracted exams in fiscal year 2024, according to GAO-25-107483. Contractors completed 93% of all VA disability exams that year, and VHA medical centers did the rest. That GAO total is the only official aggregate, and VA publishes no per-exam price.
Dividing the GAO cost total by the exam count gives an average of more than $1,500 per exam across all exam types. This is a rough average derived from GAO totals. It is not a rate any examiner is paid.
In December 2024, VBA awarded 13 new exam contracts to the four contractors, according to the same GAO report.
What Changes a C&P Examiner Salary
Four factors change what a C&P examiner earns: the route you take, your profession and specialty, your location, and your exam mix.
- Route. A VA staff salary comes with federal benefits. A contractor W-2 job pays a posted salary, and network work pays per exam as an independent contractor, often called 1099 work.
- Profession and specialty. Physicians fall into VA pay table tiers, NPs and PAs into locality pay, and psychologists and audiologists into GS grades. VES says its per-exam rates vary by specialty.
- Location. The VA physician postings in Parma, Tacoma and McClellan carried three different ranges. NP and PA rates come from local surveys, GS pay adds locality, and VES rates vary by geography.
- Exam mix. VES pays per exam and per DBQ, so the number of DBQs in a case affects what that case pays. Which DBQs qualify for ACE or telehealth exams varies by employer.
Location also limits where a contract examiner can work. Under a federal law, the 38 U.S.C. 5101 note, a physician, PA, NP, audiologist or psychologist can do VBA contract exams in any state. The examiner needs a current unrestricted license and cannot be barred in any state. For PAs, NPs, audiologists and psychologists, that authority runs to January 5, 2027, under Public Law 119-37, section 7203.
Physicians' portability is permanent. Bills to extend the date or make it permanent for the other professions were pending but not enacted as of this writing. The law does not cover dentists or optometrists. VA staff examiners need one full, current, unrestricted license from any U.S. state, territory or D.C.
VA Staff, Salaried Contractor and Network Routes Compared
The three routes differ in how pay is set and how much of it you can see before an offer.
| Question | VA staff | Contractor, salaried (W-2) | Contractor network (1099) |
|---|---|---|---|
| How pay is set | VA physician pay table, VA locality pay for NPs and PAs, or GS grades | Annual salary in the job posting | A fee per exam and per DBQ under your agreement |
| Public dollar figure | Yes, on USAJOBS postings and the VA and OPM pay tables | Yes, on the job posting | None published |
| License rule | One full, current, unrestricted license from any U.S. state, territory or D.C. | Federal portability law for VBA contract exams, plus each contractor's own rules by role | Federal portability law for VBA contract exams, plus each contractor's own rules by role |
| Benefits | Federal benefits | Ask during hiring | Ask during hiring |
| Pick it if | You want a posted salary with federal benefits | You want a salaried exam job with a contractor | You want per-exam work and may take cases from more than one contractor |
Questions to Ask About a W-2 or 1099 Offer
Contractors publish no per-exam rates, so the offer itself is the only place to compare pay. Ask these questions before you accept a W-2 or 1099 offer.
- Who pays the employment taxes on this pay, you or the company?
- Does the offer include health insurance, retirement or paid leave?
- Who carries malpractice coverage for your exams, and does it cover ACE exams done from records?
- Is pay set per exam, per DBQ, or both?
- Does an ACE exam pay the same as an in-person exam?
- Are travel time and mileage paid?
- Is training time paid, and who pays for the VA training modules?
- Which days of the month are you paid?
Steps to Find Your Own C&P Examiner Salary
You can get a working C&P examiner salary figure for your license and city in seven steps.
- Search USAJOBS for "Compensation & Pension", "Compensation and Pension" and "C&P", then add your profession and city.
- Read the posted range on each listing. For psychologists and audiologists, note the GS grade and match it to the OPM 2026 GS table plus your locality.
- For physicians, find your specialty and tier on the VA physician pay ranges, then compare that tier with the posted C&P range.
- During credentialing, ask VES and QTC for the rate sheet for your region and the DBQ types you would complete.
- Ask each contractor listed on VA's claim exam page which DBQs it sends as ACE or telehealth exams, and what each one pays.
- Put W-2 and 1099 offers side by side, using the offer questions above.
- If you would do contract exams across state lines as a PA, NP, audiologist or psychologist, read the current 38 U.S.C. 5101 note to see whether Congress has extended the January 5, 2027 date.
Limits of These Pay Figures
These figures are for licensed clinicians weighing C&P exam work, and they do not help a veteran preparing for an exam. If you are a veteran, the guides to VES exams and Optum Serve exams cover the veteran side.
Writing nexus letters for veterans is a separate job, covered in nexus letter writer jobs. No contractor publishes a per-exam dollar rate, so the rate sheet you request in step 4 is the only source for one.
Our answer would change if a contractor published a per-exam rate sheet or VA issued a new physician pay table. It would also change if the January 5, 2027 portability date passed without an extension, since contract NPs, PAs, psychologists and audiologists would lose the any-state authority.
Your next step is to search USAJOBS for "Compensation & Pension" with your profession, then compare that posted C&P examiner salary with any rate sheet a contractor sends you.
Rank and Pay is not affiliated with VA and has not worked as a C&P examiner. This page is general information. It is not legal, licensing or career advice. Pay and requirements change, so confirm current figures with VA on the USAJOBS posting, with the exam contractor, and with your licensing board.