| TESTIMONY DIFFERS
AS TO VA CLAIMS BACKLOG
VA says claims backlog mainly due to
enhanced outreach to veterans. But, GAO testimony paints a
different picture.
by Larry Scott, VA Watchdog
dot Org
This is kind of like a
Congressional version of Divorce Court.
"He said, she said," and then we
the judges (the veterans) are left to try to sort it out.
You start with the Congressional
Hearing ...
United States Senate
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Review of Veterans’ Disability Compensation: Forging a Path
Forward
July 29, 2009
9:15 a.m.
Russell 418
... toss in the usual suspects
as witnesses ...
1 - COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP
2 - COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP
PANEL I
PANEL II
... and end up with so many
different takes on why the VA claims backlog
keeps growing that it is almost
impossible to make any sense of it.
But, we have one given in all of
this: The VA will obfuscate and outright lie about why
the claims backlog has grown by 16% since the first of this year.
So, we must disregard their
testimony as the self-serving nonsense it is ... such as these
choice quotes: "VBA is completing more claims than ever
before," and "...we have made progress in improving the
timeliness of our decisions," and "...our disability claims
workload is increasing, which we believe is largely due to VBA’s
many outreach efforts," and there are many others that will
also put a smile on your face.
However, the testimony does make
interesting reading and you can find it among the links above ...
or, you can view the webcast here.
More to the point is the
testimony from the Government Accountability Office (GAO):
Veterans'
Disability Benefits:
Preliminary Findings on Claims Processing Trends and Improvement
Efforts
GAO-09-910T, July 29, 2009
Summary (HTML)
Highlights Page (PDF)
Full Report (PDF, 21 pages)
Accessible Text
As always, GAO gets to the
point. Highlights of their testimony is below:
-------------------------
VETERANS’ DISABILITY BENEFITS
Preliminary Findings on Claims
Processing Trends and Improvement Efforts
Why GAO Did This Study
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee asked GAO to present its preliminary findings on the
Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) disability claims process.
This statement discusses (1) the trends in VA compensation claims
and appeals, and (2) the steps VA is taking to improve disability
claims processing.
This testimony is based on
ongoing work. GAO’s findings are based largely on VA performance
data and information obtained from VA documents and through
interviews with VA officials. This testimony is also based on past
GAO work on this subject, updated as appropriate to reflect VA’s
current workload and initiatives.
What GAO Found
Over the past several years, VA
disability claims workloads at both the initial and appellate
levels have improved in some areas and worsened in
 others.
For example, the number of disability claims VA completes annually
at the initial level increased about 60 percent—from about 458,000
in fiscal year 1999 to about 729,000 in fiscal year 2008. However,
during this same period, the number of claims pending at year-end
increased 65 percent to about 343,000. Several factors affect
these and other disability claims workloads, including increases
in disability claims received, growing complexity of claims, court
decisions and changes in regulation. Disability claims workloads
at the appellate level have also improved in some areas and
worsened in others. For example, over the past several years, the
number of appeals resolved increased 22 percent, from more than
72,000 cases in fiscal year 2003 to almost 88,000 cases in fiscal
year 2008. However, it took on average 96 days longer in fiscal
year 2008 to resolve appeals than in fiscal year 2003. One factor
that affects workloads at the appellate level is the submission of
new evidence or claims that must be evaluated.
VA has taken several steps to
improve claims processing, but the effect of some of these actions
is not yet known. For example, VA increased claims processing
staff about 58 percent from fiscal years 2005 to 2009, which has
helped to increase the total number of decisions VA issues
annually. However, VA expects individual staff productivity to
decline in the short-term in part because of the challenge of
training and integrating new staff. In addition, VA has
established 15 resource centers to which it redistributes claims
and appeals for processing from backlogged regional offices.
Although VA has not collected data to evaluate the effect of its
workload redistribution efforts, these efforts may ultimately
increase the timeliness and consistency of VA’s decisions. VA is
also implementing a pilot with the Department of Defense (DOD) to
perform joint disability evaluations that has the potential to
streamline the disability process for prospective veterans.
Finally, VA has begun other initiatives, which we are in the
process of reviewing, such as targeting certain claims for
fast-track processing and leveraging technology.
-------------------------
Also, the
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) testified that they still
want to
cut a veteran's appeal time in half: Congress should
decrease the period in which a VA claimant may submit a timely
notice of disagreement to the VA following the issuance of a VA
rating decision from one year to six months by amending 38 U.S.C.
§ 7105.
And, there's a news story about the Hearing on the CNN web site.
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TOPICS:
veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs,
claims backlog, Congressional testimony, GAO |
