US soldiers with disability claims can wait over a year photo: pix4notes.wordpress.com

Delayed payments have the potential to adversely affect the economic status and quality of life for veterans who are eligible for benefits

The US Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General reported September 23, 2009 that 11,000 veterans have waited 448 days on average to have their claims processed.

Delays were based on workload management delays from organizations outside the VA, the report said.

“We projected that inefficient VARO workload management and/or claims processing activities performed by entities outside VARO control delayed 11,063, almost all of the 11,099 claims. Workload management is a coordinated system used to control how claims and other work move through the adjudicative process.”   

US soldiers with disability claims can wait over a year photo: pix4notes.wordpress.com

“Inefficient VARO workload management caused avoidable processing delays averaging 187 days for a projected 10,046 (90.5 percent) of the 11,099 rating claims. VAROs could minimize the number of rating claims processed that exceed 365 days and reduce processing times for most other rating claims by addressing workload management deficiencies.”Audit of VA Regional Office Rating Claims Processing Exceeding 365 Days

We also projected that as of March 31, 2009, VAROs had completed 10,462 of the 11,099 claims and awarded retroactive payments totaling about $43 million for 3,501 of these claims. Of this $43 million, we estimated that $14.4 million (33.5 percent) represented monthly benefit payments unnecessarily delayed by an average of 8 months because of claims processing deficiencies. The worst cases were delayed benefit payments totaling $64,990 for one claimant and a benefit payment delay of 27 months for another claimant. These delayed benefit payments have the potential to adversely affect the economic status and quality of life for veterans who are eligible for benefits. To reduce rating claims processing times, VAROs need to:
• Link workload management plans to VBA timeliness targets.
• Execute improved plans to avoid 10 deficiencies that cause processing delays.
• Link Veterans Service Center (VSC) staff production credits to timeliness targets.

VA management agreed with the AG report in general but took exception to certain wording in the report.

The Under Secretary for Benefits agreed with the findings and recommendations in the report and provided acceptable implementation plans…We consider the planned actions acceptable, and we will follow up on their implementation until all proposed actions are completed.

…The VBA does not believe it is appropriate for OIG to refer to the deficiencies identified in workload management as claims processing “practices.” The OIG reviewed only the oldest cases in VBA’s pending inventory, which are the cases most likely to have experienced avoidable processing delays. The deficiencies identified by the OIG as “practices” include untimely evidence requests and follow-up, misplaced claims folders, and lack of supervision. These failures to take timely and appropriate action represent workload management deficiencies, but should not be categorized as “practices.” Therefore, the Under Secretary requested that references to inefficient claims processing “practices” be changed to workload management of claims processing “deficiencies.”

Whatever the wording, the burden of these delays is being shouldered by the veterans and their families not the administration.