Our first priority is to render decisions on claims for those claimants who have not yet received any award. At the same time, we do continue to review amendments and use the same priority order of rendering decisions on older amendments before reviewing newer ones.
How we prioritize the review of an amendment depends on whether we have already made payment on the claim. As a general rule, an amendment on a claim that has not yet been decided (meaning the claimant has not received any award determination) will not change its priority status. We are basing the priority on the date the compensation form was submitted (see FAQ 1.2).
For claims that have already received an award determination, our priority order relates to the date of submission of the amendment, and not back to the original compensation form submission date. So, as a general rule, it is better for claimants (and will allow us to consider claims as a whole rather than piecemeal), if amendments are made while the claim is under consideration rather than after an award is already made.