VA wary of ideas to quickly deal with claims backlog

[CommunityEditor]

The Department of Veterans Affairs hopes to one day harness the power of technology to speed the processing of veterans’ benefits claims, but it is wary of ideas for quickly reducing the claims backlog, which is hovering around 400,000.

That has not kept some radical suggestions from being made.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, suggests that the VA approve, with no questions, most Agent Orange-related claims of Vietnam veterans, allowing more time to concentrate on new claims from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Filner said the long wait for receiving disability and survivor benefits is one of the most vexing problems facing the VA, which has had only modest success in whittling the backlog by hiring more claims processors.

Expanded payments would include disputed claims of Navy veterans who never went ashore in Vietnam but believe they have herbicide-related health issues.

Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., and Fred Upton, R-Mich., are sponsoring a bill, the Immediate Benefits for Wounded Warriors Act, that would give partial payments to some veterans while they wait for a formal VA claims decision, which can take a year for initial claims and up to three years for appeals.

That bill, HR 4219, would apply to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans rated by the military as being 10 percent or more disabled, or who have been diagnosed by any doctor with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

They would get disability pay as if they had received a 30 percent disability rating through the formal VA ratings process. If a veteran ended up receiving a higher disability rating after the VA completed its process, he would get a backdated payment for the difference. If he ended up with a disability rated at less than 30 percent, he would not have to return any money.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said he is “very disappointed” in the VA for not coming up with more new ideas of its own.

Lamborn has introduced a bill that includes a pilot program for handling some electronic claims through automation. “This bill is not perfect,” he said. “But rather than offering a simple, out-of-hand dismissal, I would have appreciated constructive input.”

His bill is controversial; Paralyzed Veterans of America, for example, “does not believe that software exists that can replace the human element,” said Richard Daley, the group’s legislative director, at a Nov. 8 hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance.

Bradley Mayes, VA’s director for compensation and pensions, said at the same hearing that the VA is “engaged in an aggressive planning” to use technology to process claims. The hope, he said, is to have a paperless claims system someday.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/benefit...cklog_071127w/

The VA needs to not only place more command emphasis on training claims personnel,what is really needed is,a complete review of their claims form,VA21-526 which is confusing and asks for duplicating information.ie,reserve and national guard entries should be on a seperate enclosure this would shorten the form and make it easier for first time filers to complete the form.Some States do not have service officers to assist or are located so far away in distance for the veteran to seek assistance.I hear rumors that the VA has a veterans out reach program and for the veteran to submit his or her application by the computer,thats good for the younger genaration of veteranswho one,own and are computer wise.I am in charge of a veterans assistance team in vine grove ky.We assist veterans from all wars in their efforts to submit a well prepered claims form with all required documentation to the department of veterans affairs. with our volunteer efforts we accomplish this in two phases, the initial visit,veteran briefing,printed handouts which explain required documantation to suppor the claim.phase two, the veteran returns with required documantationwe screen it,copy ,assemble,and assist filling out the initial claim or,21-438,statement in support of claim.when the veteran or survivor has all pertinent information and required documentation on first visit we fast tract that claim by completing the claim on the spot.Volunteer teams like ours can be an immense help to the veterans/survivors from the ground level where the claims process begins.This in turn will help the department of veterans affairs in that they will receice a substantial completed claim and th claim should transition into the claims process with no beaructatic road blocks.

[maggieb]

They need to hire some of the disabled vets to work on claims. Many have a hard time finding jobs due to there disabilities, and many are already trained in Personnel / record keeping etc.

I love how everybody is so adept at second guessing the ability of the VA to get claims processed timely, but I haven't seen any ideas that are really practical. Updating the 21-526 is a good idea. Congress could loosen requirements for filling some of these forms out so that a veteran or dependent doesn't have to supply a "life history" when an initial, reopened, or subsequent claim is filed.

The idea that the VA should hire more disabled veterans to process claims, what makes people think that they can do any better job than the people that are hired? The training process needs to be improved, but a disabled veteran isn't any more qualified or smarter or whatever term you want to use to process claims than anyone else. The VA already has a large percentage of it's workforce that are former veterans.

The best idea's are those that congress could do to make it easier to process claims. They need to cut the red tape, amend the U.S.C. and the 38 CFR to repeal some of the requirements placed on the VA. Streamline the process for making a claim and for processing the claim from start to finish, and then you'll see the timeliness of processing these claims improve.

Just a side note, veterans/dependents that file claim after claim and appeal every decision the VA makes, slow down the process as well. I'm not against anyone getting what they deserve, but a lot of claims are just plain frivolous and have no chance to be approved due to lack of evidence. This would free up claims processors to work on claims that are needing to be increased, etc.

With everyone demanding more fiscal responsibility out of the government, who's going to pay for all of this? The veteran's that receive compensation for their disabilities, I have no problem with. But hiring more people to process claims and to just run the VA in general costs more than some folks want to see spent. Personally, I think everyone needs to quit assuming that nothing is being proposed, looked at, or done by the VA to try to get a handle on the backlog of claims. Any change implemented will still take some time to get rolling. I love reading the articles that quote congressman saying that their "disappointed that the VA hasn't come up with more ideas on their own". Last I checked, the VA doesn't have an abundance of people sitting around waiting for these brilliant people that were elected to serve this country to come up with all the answers. Please, quit acting like children that think they can get their way by just screaming loud enough. Let the people responsible have a chance to work on the "ideas" that are already in place.