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GAO DRAFT REPORT: "BENEFITS DELIVERY AT DISCHARGE"

WORKS, BUT NEEDS MORE ACCOUNTABILITY -- Rep.

Steve Buyer: "With its enormous backlog of pending

claims, VA should embrace the BDD program as

means of easing the burden at regional offices."

(UPDATE: Full GAO report now available.)

The VA has been testing the "Benefits Delivery at Discharge" (BDD) program at military bases around the country.

It appears, at least in its initial phases, to be working.

The GAO has released a draft report on the matter.  That report is not yet publicly available.  It will be posted here when the GAO makes it public.  NOTE (10-11-08):  Full GAO report is now available here...
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08901.pdf   Highlights are here...
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08901high.pdf   Summary here...
 http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-901    Summary is posted at bottom of page.

A news story in the Army Times says:  "The program allows claims to be filed within 180 days of discharge. While the claim is not fully processed until the service member leaves active duty, a preliminary disability rating is determined based on physical exams and a review of medical records to reduce the waiting time for the first disability check."  Complete story is here... http://www.armytim
es.com/news/2008/10/military_veteransbenefi
ts_beforedischarge_100808w/

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, likes this program.  Why?  Because his good buddy Anthony J. Principi, former VA Secretary, has the BDD disability examinations locked up in an airtight contract through his company, QTC.  Stories here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfAPR07/nf040307-3.htm
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJUL07/nf071907-6.htm

For more about QTC and their huge VA and military contracts, Principi, and current VA Secretary James Peake (who used to be a top executive at QTC), use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=qtc&op=and

Buyer press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/hcva08/hcva100808-1.htm

Press release below:

-------------------------

GAO Report Assesses VA’s Benefits Delivery at Discharge Program: Regarded by Many as Success Story, but Better Accountability and Access Needed

For more information, contact: Brian Lawrence, (202) 225-3527

Washington, D.C. – A report that was requested by House Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) and released today by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program that allows disability benefits claims to be filed prior to discharge is more efficient than the traditional VA claims process.

While optimistic about the overall assessment of the program, Congressman Buyer is encouraging VA to make every effort to improve the program and increase separating servicemembers’ access to Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) sites. The program, established in 1998, has yet to be fully implemented at all discharge facilities. Buyer, a long-time advocate for creating a ‘seamless transition’ for servicemembers’ returning to civilian life, recognizes the inherent value of beginning the VA claims process while servicemembers’ medical records are readily available and proof of service connection is easily established.

“With its enormous backlog of pending claims, VA should embrace the BDD program as means of easing the burden at regional offices,” Buyer said. “Common sense dictates that claims established prior to separation from active service are more easily adjudicated than ones filed months or years afterward. Doing so increases both accuracy and efficiency, and processing as many claims as possible in this manner will have a positive impact throughout the entire system.”

Buyer was pleased to have bipartisan support and interest from nearly fifty Democratic members who joined the list of Congressional requestors of GAO’s assessment. GAO concluded that while the overall BDD claims system is successful, better accountability and access would help improve the program. VA agreed with most of GAO’s recommendations and acknowledged that better data collection would provide feedback to enable further improvements in the program, but it had some disagreements on some specific technical aspects of recommended performance measures. GAO’s findings are likely to be among the Committee’s areas of interest in the upcoming Congress.

-------------------------

Summary of GAO report is below:

-------------------------

Veterans' Disability Benefits: Better Accountability and Access Would Improve the Benefits Delivery at Discharge Program

GAO-08-901

Summary

Recent military conflicts have increased interest in federal efforts to support servicemembers preparing to leave military service. Through the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DOD), has made efforts to streamline access to veterans' disability benefits by allowing some servicemembers to file a claim and obtain a single comprehensive exam prior to discharge. This report examines VA's efforts to manage the BDD program and how VA and DOD are addressing challenges servicemembers face in accessing BDD. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed relevant documents and data, interviewed officials, and conducted site visits and interviews at selected military bases.

While VA awards compensation more quickly under BDD than through its traditional process, VA's efforts to manage the BDD program provide limited accountability for achieving optimal results. For example, the agency does not measure the time local VA personnel are developing BDD claims and thus has limited information on potential problems during claim development. Also, VA has reviewed BDD operations in only 16 of the 40 regional offices with the program. Reviewers in those 16 offices conducted limited assessments of some key aspects of program operations, such as ensuring that VA personnel fully developed claims prior to sending them to be rated. Finally, VA has not evaluated initiatives to improve the program, such as its effort to achieve paperless processing of BDD claims. As a result of these gaps in oversight, VA has limited information on how well the program is working or whether further improvements are warranted. VA and DOD have established BDD sites where most servicemembers discharging from the military have access to the program and issued policy guidance in July 2008 to extend access even further. Further, the agencies implemented an alternative predischarge program for members who have no or limited access to the BDD program, such as members of the National Guard or Reserves. However, whether the predischarge program expedites benefits for some members unable to use BDD cannot easily be determined, because VA does not collect sufficient data on these claims. To further improve BDD access, VA and DOD raise awareness of the program through VA benefits briefings, although attendance is not always mandatory. DOD recently established a goal of 85 percent attendance, but has not developed a plan for reaching this goal or a reliable method to measure participation. Finally, while a national agreement between VA and DOD gives local officials flexibility in implementing the cooperative exam process--a key aspect of BDD to streamline access to benefits--some bases have faced challenges maintaining local memoranda of understanding. VA and DOD have not recently evaluated or disseminated promising practices that could address such challenges.


Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Daniel Bertoni
Government Accountability Office: Education, Workforce, and Income Security
(202) 512-5988


Recommendations for Executive Action

Recommendation: To improve accountability for performance in the BDD program and alternative predischarge program, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Under Secretary of Veterans Benefits to track and account for the time needed for claims development activities that occur prior to discharge in the agency's timeliness calculation for BDD and pre-discharge claims.

Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To improve accountability for performance in the BDD program and alternative predischarge program, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Under Secretary of Veterans Benefits to consider the cost of options for separately estimating the accuracy of BDD and predischarge claims.

Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To improve accountability for performance in the BDD program and alternative predischarge program, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Under Secretary of Veterans Benefits to collect data for all claims filed by component (for example, National Guard or Reserves) and analyze the extent to which different components are filing claims and receiving timely benefits under BDD, predischarge and traditional claims processes.

Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To improve accountability for performance in the BDD program and alternative predischarge program, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Under Secretary of Veterans Benefits to conduct an evaluation of the paperless claims processing initiative to determine which adjustments, if any, are needed to improve its effectiveness.

Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To improve accountability for performance in the BDD program and alternative predischarge program, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Under Secretary of Veterans Benefits to include program reviews of BDD operations as part of oversight visits to regional offices with BDD operations and take steps to further ensure such reviews are conducted and reported on more consistently.

Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To ensure that potentially eligible participants are aware of the BDD program, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to establish an accurate measure of servicemembers' participation in TAP including VA benefit briefings.

Agency Affected: Department of Defense

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To ensure that potentially eligible participants are aware of the BDD program, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to establish a plan with specific time frames for meeting its goal of 85 percent participation rate in the Transition Assistance Program.

Agency Affected: Department of Defense

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: To ensure that servicemembers have full access to a cooperative exam process that is convenient, efficient, and consistent for servicemembers, the Chairs of the Joint Executive Council should direct the Benefits Executive Council to identify and disseminate information on promising practices that address challenges local officials commonly face.

Agency Affected: Department of Defense: Joint Executive Council

Status: In process

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

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