So what is DD Form 2526? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD 2526, Case Abstract for Malpractice Claims, February 2000, used to Case Abstract for Malpractice Claims. Anything else you need follows from that.
Does it apply to your branch? Yes. The DD prefix means Department of Defense, not one service, so the same blank serves the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and the Coast Guard under Defense jurisdiction. There is no Army version and no Navy version to search for.
Where does the requirement come from? From not stated, with not stated responsible for the document itself. Those are the names to cite if anyone asks under what authority you filed.
Which edition should you have? not stated, listed as not stated. A copy dated otherwise is a copy worth replacing.
What the form asks for
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
- 2. Claimant last name.
- 3. Type of report. Press space bar to mark X in first box if initial, second box if correction or addition, third box if revision to action, or fourth box if void previous report.
- b. Ending date.
- 4. Date(s) of act(s) or omission(s) (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day). a. Beginning date.
- 1. Date of report (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).1. Date of report (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).
- 5. Date claim filed (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).1. Date of report (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 6. Date of judgment or settlement (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 7. Medical treatment facility. a. Name.
- b. DMIS code.
- 8. Practitioner information. a. Name (last, first, middle).
- b. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- c. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- d. Name of professional school attended.
- e. Date graduated (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- f. Specialty code.
- g. Status. X first box if Army, second box if Navy, third box if Air Force, fourth box if PHS, fifth box if civilian GS, sixth box if partnership internal, seventh box if partnership external, eighth box if personnel services contract, or ninth box if non-personnel services contract.
- h. Source of accession. (1) Military. X if volunteer.
- X if Armed Forces Health Professional scholarship program.
- X if Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.
- X if National Guard.
- X if Reserve.
- X if other.
- (2) Civilian. X if Civil Service.
Download the form
Which files are here? These: PDF. How much work is involved? 4 pages, about 182 entry fields.
Fillable or printable — which do you have? Click inside a box. If it accepts a cursor and typed text, the file is fillable and your entries save with it. If nothing happens, the pdf is flat, and the only way forward is printing it and writing on paper.
Is handwriting acceptable? Yes, but it is the weaker choice. Scanning flattens pen strokes and reproduction blurs them, while typed characters survive the whole chain intact. Print in capitals if you are working from a paper blank.
In what order do you complete it? The printed order, top to bottom. Header data comes before the body, and the body before the signature block. The sequence is not decorative — later entries are keyed to earlier ones.
What if your copy is old? Replace it. Check the date printed on the form against not stated. Old blanks circulate for years in shared folders, and because a DD revision lands across the whole Department at once, the receiving office will be working from the new layout.
Is the form its own instruction manual? Partly. The rest sits in not stated, which is also the authority where the two texts conflict.
What happens after you finish? It routes to the office specified in not stated or in local guidance. And your own record? Save a duplicate first; nobody regrets having one.
Do you need to know which branch issued a related form? No. DD numbering is Department-wide and unified, which means the number on its own is a complete address for the document.
Can you assume a matching number is the same form? No, and this is where downloads go wrong. Read the prefix. Army numbering and Department numbering are independent systems, so the digits alone tell you nothing about which document you need.
How often does a form like this change? Unpredictably — revision follows directive changes, altered collection requirements and updated notice language. What is the practical defence? Verifying not stated every time you download rather than trusting a saved copy.
Is any of this advice? No. This page distributes a published Defense form and explains its contents, which is a different thing from telling you whether your circumstances qualify or whether a reviewer will accept your copy. Direct questions of eligibility, applicability and procedure to not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2526?
- DD 2526, Case Abstract for Malpractice Claims, February 2000
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?