Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

Neurology expert rates in the federal vaccine program (NVICP)

Neurologists carry much of the program's expert testimony, and the fee decisions show it: 59 rate determinations across 29 named neurologists, 2014–2026 — the largest specialty band in our vaccine-program corpus. Before you request, defend, or challenge a neurology rate in a fee application, this is the record the special master already knows.

Rates set or approved by special masters

25th percentile$400
Median$500
75th percentile$500
90th percentile$500
29 named experts · 59 rate determinations in 52 decisions · 2014–2026 · 44 of the 59 approved at the requested rate

Rates experts disclosed in filings — not court determinations

25th percentile$500
Median$550
75th percentile$675
6 named experts · 8 disclosed rates in 6 documents · 2019–2023

Since 2015: median $500/hr across 29 named experts, 58 rate determinations.

About this forum

These rates come from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: decisions of the special masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on petitions under the Vaccine Act. The program pays petitioners' attorneys' fees and costs — including expert fees — from its trust fund when a petition qualifies (42 U.S.C. § 300aa-15(e)), so requested expert hourly rates are ruled on in writing, in published fee decisions, by one court with a developed rate practice. We never pool these with the federal-court bands; a special master pricing record review is not a district judge pricing a deposition.

From the record

Three of the determinations behind this band, described the way the exhibit cites them — the exhibit itself names the experts, quotes the decisions, and links each one to the public court document it came from:

  • neurology · Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. · June 2026 · $500/hr · approved as requested
  • neurology · Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. · Oct. 2025 · $500/hr · approved as requested
  • neurology · Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. · Aug. 2025 · $500/hr · court reduced to

For petitioners' counsel

If you file fee applications in the program, this band is the precedent you would otherwise assemble by hand. Special masters do move rates: of the 59 determinations behind this band, 44 were approved at the requested rate; the rest were not. An application that shows the requested rate sitting inside what special masters have already allowed, with the decisions cited, is cheaper to write and harder to cut. The exhibit is the same document at the same price whether you buy it or your expert does.

The band above is free and stays free. The exhibit is the version you hand to counsel: your rate placed among the band's 29 values — one per named expert — with the percentile stated, the qualifying decisions quoted and cited, and every citation linked to the public court document it came from. Prepared for your rate and setting, delivered to your inbox in minutes.

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