U.S. Military (Ret.): VA claims process can work smoothly - Military Retirement, leaving the service - Military Times

U.S. Military (Ret.): VA claims process can work smoothly

I just received my second recent email from a veteran who reports satisfying results with the Veterans Affairs Department claims process.

Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Joleo Dianala wrote that he received a decision on his claim “within 63 days after my official retirement date last June because I provided everything that my Veteran Service Officer representative said to mail.”

Dianala said he thinks it helped him quite a bit to have the assistance of a VSO, which reassured him that everything that needed to be in his package was, in fact, in there, so the process could go smoothly the first time.

Dianala’s experience is good news, but VA has a long way to go to see real progress in reducing the average processing time for compensation claims.

VA officials say they want to decrease the average processing time for a new claim to 150 days, a goal they hope to reach by hiring more claims processors and taking advantage of advances in technology.

Unfortunately, average processing times recently have gone the other way, largely because of expanded benefits eligibility for Vietnam veterans and the continued tide of combat vets wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In fact, VA reported in May that the average processing time is expected to be 230 days in 2012, up from 165 days in 2010.

I’m hopeful that the ongoing joint effort between VA and the Pentagon to develop “virtual lifetime electronic records” will soon begin to reverse the trend.

This electronic databank would include everything in your service medical record and administrative record, as well as military transfers and dependent information.

Having a seamless system, in which the Defense Department and VA will be able to “talk” to each other electronically, may not be the ultimate magic bullet. But it will save a lot of time for retirees in gathering documents from their active-duty days to support a benefits claim, and it will help minimize denials of claims because of insufficient documentation.

In the meantime, Dianala’s experience reinforces the value of doing your homework on the basics of the claims system and getting help from a VSO before filing a claim.

When a retiree ensures his claims package is squared away the first time, he’s helping VA chip away at its still-considerable backlog — and that helps all veterans who are waiting on claims decisions.

Retired Command Master Chief Alex Keenan served 28 years in the Coast Guard. Email him at retired@militarytimes.com.