VA employees apparently delayed benefits to veterans to qualify for bonuses. Three U.S. Reps. demand accountability.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... What started off as a virtually-unnoticed VAOIG report issued last week, has turned into a firestorm.  VAOIG reported:

Review of Alleged Claim Processing Delays to Receive Monetary Performance Awards at VA Regional Office Pittsburgh, PA -- Report Number 09-00213-125, 5/12/2009 | Summary | Report (PDF)

They found no wrongdoing saying the incidents stemmed from  "misunderstanding and confusion."

Now, three U.S. Reps. don't agree with that assessment.

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Trio of congressmen demand probe of Pittsburgh VA benefit delays

By Brian Bowling, TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Three members of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation said Thursday that they're outraged that Pittsburgh Department of Veterans Affairs employees delayed payments to veterans in order to qualify for a performance bonus.

The lawmakers — Rep. Jason Altmire, D- McCandless; Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair; and Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Scranton — said they will seek a further investigation regarding accountability.

The incident is documented in a May 12 report from the VA Inspector General's Office. The document verifies that at least 10 veterans' claims were held up so that about 120 employees could receive $300 bonuses.

The delay enabled the office to maintain that it had rated all claims within seven days of receipt. As a result, at least five veterans received money a month later than they should have, the report said. The payments totaled $4,028.

"It is outrageous that VA employees would deliberately prevent veterans from receiving these payments as quickly as possible," Altmire said in a statement. "We simply cannot allow any federal employee to put their personal financial gain ahead of our veterans' needs."

Altmire said he contacted regional and national VA offices to learn what administrators did to hold employees accountable for what happened.

VA spokesman Jim Benson in Washington could not be reached for comment.

Murphy said his office has fielded numerous complaints about the Pittsburgh VA office and the time it takes to process claims.

Murphy said he asked the VA to compare the office to other regional offices to determine whether the problem is systemwide or restricted to Pittsburgh. If the VA won't do the analysis, the congressman said he will ask the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation.

"We need to find out why the system in Pittsburgh is not working," he said.

An anonymous tip that regional office managers ordered employees to delay the processing of claims led to the inspector general's investigation. Investigators said they could not substantiate the tip, although the report said five of seven employees told inspectors in interviews that they were operating under the belief that managers ordered the delays.

David Szymoniak, a service officer in Pittsburgh for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the VA puts too much pressure on employees through a system that judges them by the quantity of cases they handle, instead of the quality of their decisions.

Szymoniak helps veterans navigate the VA's bureaucracy and appeal claim denials. Although prompt case-handling is important, rushing decisions doesn't benefit veterans, he said.

"We file quite a few appeals based on the inaccuracy of those decisions," Szymoniak said.

The Veterans Benefits Administration, which is part of the VA, suspended the bonus program in November. An April 29 letter from P.W. Dunne, undersecretary for benefits, to the inspector general's office said the benefits administration added several integrity checks to prevent deliberate delays in claims.

Casey, however, said he doesn't find that satisfactory.

"It is a shame that additional 'integrity checks' are needed in the VBA to ensure that our veterans are treated fairly and their claims handled promptly. Situations like this undermine the credibility of our government," the senator said.

Murphy said the situation prompting the office to delay claims is as troubling as the incident itself.

The inspector general's report says the Pittsburgh office met the performance criteria only once in 2008 — and achieved that only by delaying at least 10 claims.

The VA clearly has a problem handling claims in a timely manner and needs to fix the problem, Murphy said.

"Paying people to somehow do it faster didn't work," he said.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Pittsburgh, VAOIG, bonuses, delayed benefits