100%
Highest listed pathwaySevere inflammatory bowel disease unresponsive to treatment, requiring hospitalization at least once per year, and resulting in either an inability to work, or recurrent abdominal pain with at least two of four listed severe findings.
What separates the next level: The 60% level does not require treatment-unresponsiveness or hospitalization; it instead requires outpatient management with immunosuppressant or biologic agents together with a more moderate symptom pattern.
Review CFR criteria, examples, and evidence
- Official CFR language
- Severe inflammatory bowel disease that is unresponsive to treatment; and requires hospitalization at least once per year; and results in either an inability to work or is characterized by recurrent abdominal pain associated with at least two of the following: (1) six or more episodes per day of diarrhea, (2) six or more episodes per day of rectal bleeding, (3) recurrent episodes of rectal incontinence, or (4) recurrent abdominal distension.
- Qualification explanation
- The record should confirm treatment-unresponsiveness and at least one hospitalization per year together, then either a documented inability to work, or recurrent abdominal pain plus at least two of the four listed findings. Any single finding alone, without the treatment-unresponsiveness and hospitalization gate, does not establish this tier.
- Examples
- Records document treatment-resistant disease with at least one hospitalization in the past year and an inability to work.; Records document the same treatment-unresponsiveness and hospitalization pattern, plus recurrent abdominal pain with six or more daily rectal-bleeding episodes and recurrent rectal incontinence (two of the four listed findings).
- Medical evidence
- Hospitalization records; Treatment records documenting unresponsiveness; Intestinal Conditions DBQ; Employment impact records
- Functional impact examples
- A severe, treatment-resistant disease course requiring recurring hospitalization and preventing sustained employment.
- Common misconceptions
- Any one of the four listed abdominal-pain findings alone, without a second qualifying finding, does not establish this tier, at least two are required together.; Frequent hospitalization alone, without documented treatment-unresponsiveness, does not establish this tier.
- Related topics
- treatment unresponsiveness; hospitalization; inability to work; abdominal-pain symptom count
- Source context
- 38 CFR 4.114; 7326; Current DC 7326 educational pathway and highest listed schedular percentage.