The short answer
It depends on the care. Since August 2025, VA issues one-year authorizations for 30 common types of care, including outpatient mental health and many specialties. Others may be shorter. Your letter shows the end date and any visit limit. When you need more, your community provider sends VA a Request for Service, VA Form 10-10172, before the authorization runs out.
How long does an authorization last?
As long as your authorization letter says. The upper limit is one year: 38 CFR 17.4005 defines an episode of care as a course of treatment, including follow-ups and related services, lasting no more than one calendar year.
In August 2025, VA announced that new authorizations for 30 types of care would last 12 months. Before that, some specialty authorizations had to be renewed every 90 to 180 days.
Which services get one-year authorizations?
VA's list of 30:
- Mental health and addiction: Mental Health Outpatient, Family and Couples Psychotherapy Outpatient, Addiction Psychiatry Outpatient, Addiction Medicine Outpatient.
- Medical specialties: Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Neurology, Neurology and Otology, Oncology and Hematology, Pulmonary, Rheumatology, Sleep Medicine, Urology, Urogynecology.
- Eye care: Eye Care Examination, Optometry Routine, Neuro-Ophthalmology, Oculoplastic.
- Ear, nose, and throat: Otolaryngology (ENT).
- Orthopedics and pain: Orthopedic General, Orthopedic Hand, Orthopedic Spine, Pain Management, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Physiatry).
- Feet: Podiatry, Podiatry DS.
- Nutrition: Nutrition Intervention Services.
Care not on this list may still get a shorter authorization. Your letter is what counts.
Does a one-year authorization mean unlimited visits?
Not necessarily. The authorization covers a set package of services, called a Standardized Episode of Care (SEOC). It can have a visit limit, and it only covers the services in the package. Check your letter for both the end date and any visit count.
How do I get more visits or more time?
Your community provider asks VA, not you. They send a Request for Service (RFS), VA Form 10-10172, to your VA facility's Community Care office. VA's RFS page says providers use it for:
- additional visits or time, such as when an authorization is about to expire;
- a new specialty referral; or
- a procedure or service not in the original SEOC.
The provider has to sign it and include supporting records, like notes, a care plan, or test results. VA says it processes requests within 3 business days and tells the provider. A request missing records or a signature is denied.
See How Community Providers Request More Care.
When should the provider ask?
Before the authorization runs out. If the end date passes or the visits are used up, any care after that may not be covered until VA approves more. Weekly therapy or ongoing specialty care can stall if nobody asks in time.
A good habit: when you're about two months from the end date, or a few visits from the limit, ask your provider, "Have you sent VA a Request for Service to extend my authorization?"
What if my authorization already expired?
- Stop and check before your next visit. Care after the end date may not be covered.
- Ask your provider whether they sent an RFS, on what date, and whether VA answered.
- Call your VA Community Care office to check the status.
- If VA denied it, ask why. A denial for missing records can usually be fixed by resubmitting with the documents.
If you need to keep seeing the same provider and the request is stuck, see What to Do If Your Referral Is Delayed or Stuck.
What happens when care is finished?
When the episode of care ends, the provider sends records back to VA and your VA team picks up any follow-up. If you need the same care again later, it may need a new referral. See Moving Your Care Back to VA.