Criticism of Veterans Affairs Secretary Mounts Over Backlog in Claims

Jason Perry

Jason Perry

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Criticism of Veterans Affairs Secretary Mounts Over Backlog in Claims

The secretary, Eric Shinseki, is being held accountable for his overwhelmed agency’s problems dealing with claims for disability compensation.

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By JAMES DAO

Published: May 18, 2013


The 30-second Web video has the edgy quality of a campaign-season attack ad, including ominous music, grainy photos and a closing demand: “It’s time for new leadership.”.... More

I am merging this thread with the previously posted thread on this topic. Much thanks to
Zomglawlz for posting this first (I merged and changed the post in order to place it in the front page articles section...at the moment there is no better way to do this...Same with moving all of the comments that followed).
 
Good article, but even better links within, such as the updating map of wait times/backlog tracking.
 
I thought I had read that Mr. Shinseki had resigned not long ago. I also remember reading about 6 months ago that the VA had given up on trying to have their system computer system work with the military. It never did make sense that the different branches of the military had their own system and then the VA was different as well.
 
Jeep Freak said: ↑
I thought I had read that Mr. Shinseki had resigned not long ago. I also remember reading about 6 months ago that the VA had given up on trying to have their system computer system work with the military. It never did make sense that the different branches of the military had their own system and then the VA was different as well.​
One of his under secretaries quit, but he has never hinted towards quitting himself. Honestly, I think the VA has done the best job they could considering there has been a crush of OIF/OEF vets filing, and the addition of agent orange as a assumed condition for Vietnam vets.

As far as the computer system, they did abandon the idea of being interconnected with the service systems, but are in transformation now for the new claim system. It looked pretty slick to me. The C&P doctors will be able to put all their findings in an online form that goes right to the raters. They are very close to going to paperless. The MSC will scan and upload the medical records along with the claim and everything can move faster.
 
I don't think Shinseki has done a bad job overall... but his estimates to correct any part of the VA have always been way off... so his forecasting is highly suspect and I'm glad he's not working as the Director of the National Weather Service :cool:
 
I know Tinker is a pilot for the new "paperless" claim, all of my records and forms were digitzed and sent to dpamm, and then uploaded to the va system-but I was also told that they still had to send the hard copies to the VA in muscogee, but that the 5-10 day delay of waiting for records to get from the mail room to the rating section and then "triaged" to the appropriate rater etc. has been eliminated via the digitization, and they only go to the paper version if something is unreadable or there are pages missing in a sequence. Also they no longer do the letter for VOC rehab if they "suspect" you will be over 30% since your proposed ratings are more than sufficient and take the place. I finish up the first bulk of my VA exams next week, so hopefully by the first week of June I will have my NARSUM, unless they need more tests. I am keeping a pretty in-depth log of the process and staying overly proactive with not just my, but about 7 other MEB's going on in my unit.
 
VA recently sent me an additional rating for Central Sleep Apnea with a rating of 30%, explaining that a rating of 50% would have occurred had I been prescribed a CPAP Machine... the only problem was that they (VA) had prescribed it 6 months ago... :rolleyes: PRETTY DUMB WHEN THEY DON"T EVEN USE THEIR OWN PAPERWORK :mad:
 
I really don't think they read our records. I've called a dozen times and no one can even tell me if they have my records.
 
The VA Hospital told me thy can not access to records I turn into to VA Compensation,
yet my rating were completed in Jan 2013... :confused:
 
19 months and still waiting. They told me it normally takes 10 months changed to it now takes 15 months when I called this week for my monthly check in. And still no verification on my records, even though someone from the cleveland site was supposed to email me within 10 days, and that was 20 days ago...
 
NDBravehart84 said:
The VA Hospital told me thy can not access to records I turn into to VA Compensation,
yet my rating were completed in Jan 2013... :confused:
Click to expand...
Think of the VA like any other government organization (or military organization, for that matter). Items submitted to one office or branch will not necessarily be accessible by other offices. The VA Benefits Administration is a completely different office than the Veterans Health Administration.

To give some idea of the problem, while I mainly practice law dealing with military disability matters, I have appeared in a case before the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The entire case took something like 11 months to complete (with a "win"/remand by agreement before the court ever had to take the case up on the merits- which if it had, would have added a minimum of an additional 6-9 months most likely). In that case, 7 months were eaten up by the VA attorneys getting the records from the local VA Regional Office (probably 2 months before were consumed with initial filings, just getting the case started). In total, I think I actually spent 2 months at most dealing with the actual case. The vast majority of time was simply gathering records.

The system is broken.
 
Sad :( State Of Affairs... I was told by my TBI Coordinator that a complete system integration was forth coming...

Jason, how can they expect soldiers that have cognitive deficiencies to keep their (VA) records straight, I can't keep my own records straight.
I'm drowning in paperwork and have missed most of my important suspense's.

The whole TDRL re eval things keeps me in a constant level of stress and anxiety... I'm old, worn-out and declining rapidly. I should just be put on PDRL to live out what remain of my life in peace... :confused:
 
The VA is understandably processing more claims than ever before, but I don't see this as an excuse. Point given.. assuming statistics can back up what is commonly known (which I'm sure it will), more vets are filing claims than ever before. 30 years ago, even 10 years ago, it was common for many vets to not even know what they were entitled to with the VA.

With the help of technology now, it is quickly and better understood for service-members and vets to be informed of these benefits. If this is the case, should we simply applaud the VA for doing better than they have?

The way I see it, assuming the VA knows how many S/M's are exiting in a given year, then they should have a rough number on how many claims to expect. With that, I would assume they should be able to plan on this in a given year and at least be far more closer to this than what they are currently.

Our military is expected to always complete the mission, it's service members know this. When we fail, repercussions can be deadly and we are held to that standard. Why isn't the VA being held to this same standard? I would be curious to see what percentage of service members and vets that are entitled to these benefits actually use them to those that don't, and what percent difference this was say 20, 30 + years ago.

In my opinion, the VA at times only gave the perception it was succeeding, when in actuality, it is now faced w/ actually performing it's service and is failing.
 
ABNone said:
The VA is understandably processing more claims than ever before, but I don't see this as an excuse. Point given.. assuming statistics can back up what is commonly known (which I'm sure it will), more vets are filing claims than ever before. 30 years ago, even 10 years ago, it was common for many vets to not even know what they were entitled to with the VA.

With the help of technology now, it is quickly and better understood for service-members and vets to be informed of these benefits. If this is the case, should we simply applaud the VA for doing better than they have?

The way I see it, assuming the VA knows how many S/M's are exiting in a given year, then they should have a rough number on how many claims to expect. With that, I would assume they should be able to plan on this in a given year and at least be far more closer to this than what they are currently.

Our military is expected to always complete the mission, it's service members know this. When we fail, repercussions can be deadly and we are held to that standard. Why isn't the VA being held to this same standard? I would be curious to see what percentage of service members and vets that are entitled to these benefits actually use them to those that don't, and what percent difference this was say 20, 30 + years ago.

In my opinion, the VA at times only gave the perception it was succeeding, when in actuality, it is now faced w/ actually performing it's service and is failing.
Click to expand...

I am no VA fanboy, but I really think that people are a bit hard on them and unrealistic on their expectations. First there is no way to deal with the additional claims without doubling or tripling the agencies overhead. They have a backlog of 600,000 claims. Let's say a rater can do two a day once all the missing documentation is there. That would allow each rater enough time to rate 460 cases. This takes into account weekends and 30 days of anual vacation. It does not include sick time.

So with 600,000 cases backloged the VA would need (600,000 / 460 = 1304) 1304 qualified raters to chew through the backlog. 1304 raters times $100,000 a year in pay and benefits equals $130,434,782 in payroll. That is just for rating officials and does not include all the support staff required to gather everything.

As Jason said, the system is broke. They are scrambling to fix it, but like anything it takes time. Once they get records and claims digitized, it will go faster. Until then, it will be tough. No government agency can just take on additional budget requirements on the fly. They submit a budget anually and have to abide by it. They can ask for suplemental funds, but that doesn't come easy. Remember, the government is trying to cut, not add. So asking for anything is a tough sell.

I am not saying they can't fix it, but it will not be an overnight process. They are making headway. Take a look at the link below and look at the actual statistics. They are tracking and pushing it as hard as they can.

This brings me to my final point. If you push too hard, what happens? Veterans start getting messed up ratings. Since it is linked to the PEB and what DOD pays, the potential is there for many service members to get screwed. A bad rating could be the difference between severence and retirement. Then the SM is left with fighting an uphill battle that will cost time, money and sanity. Pushing to get everything done NOW without a solid process in place is bad for everybody.

Joe

http://www.pebforum.com/site/threads/va-database.19628/
 
I think comes down to accountability. The point being that Secretary Shinseki needs to be held accountable...
He may be a great guy, but he also May Not Be The Correct Guy For This Task... How many excuses does it take, How much further must the boat sink before a rescue team is called and the Captain replaced? Maybe he has TBI/PTSD...
 
ranger2992 said:
I am no VA fanboy, but I really think that people are a bit hard on them and unrealistic on their expectations. First there is no way to deal with the additional claims without doubling or tripling the agencies overhead. They have a backlog of 600,000 claims. Let's say a rater can do two a day once all the missing documentation is there. That would allow each rater enough time to rate 460 cases. This takes into account weekends and 30 days of anual vacation. It does not include sick time.

So with 600,000 cases backloged the VA would need (600,000 / 460 = 1304) 1304 qualified raters to chew through the backlog. 1304 raters times $100,000 a year in pay and benefits equals $130,434,782 in payroll. That is just for rating officials and does not include all the support staff required to gather everything.

As Jason said, the system is broke. They are scrambling to fix it, but like anything it takes time. Once they get records and claims digitized, it will go faster. Until then, it will be tough. No government agency can just take on additional budget requirements on the fly. They submit a budget anually and have to abide by it. They can ask for suplemental funds, but that doesn't come easy. Remember, the government is trying to cut, not add. So asking for anything is a tough sell.

I am not saying they can't fix it, but it will not be an overnight process. They are making headway. Take a look at the link below and look at the actual statistics. They are tracking and pushing it as hard as they can.

This brings me to my final point. If you push too hard, what happens? Veterans start getting messed up ratings. Since it is linked to the PEB and what DOD pays, the potential is there for many service members to get screwed. A bad rating could be the difference between severence and retirement. Then the SM is left with fighting an uphill battle that will cost time, money and sanity. Pushing to get everything done NOW without a solid process in place is bad for everybody.

Joe

http://www.pebforum.com/site/threads/va-database.19628/
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with your points, actually I agree. Maybe I came off wrong w/ some of my wording on them being able to adjust their budget. I don't think it's even in a possibility to raise their budget to a level that would produce the staff numbers in order to fix the backlog quickly. I understand the budget process and this would be nearly impossible (not completely though) to allow them the budget they need and so quickly.

My point was only the failure of the leadership of the VA historically, in my opinion, and thus the VA itself. I am aware that there are actually very determined and outstanding employees that are going above and beyond to fix the current situation. The leadership though, has failed them by allowing the VA to get into this situation. They had time to prepare, they could have looked into worst case scenarios, or in actuality, scenarios that they were designed to assist in afterwards (i.e. 2 extended major wars). The fact that they didn't, in all the many years prior, is a result of poor leadership in my opinion. Like I said, many people in the government are held to a high standard and if they fail, in a level they have, they should deal w/ the consequences and negative perception. Until they fix it, and with the right leadership they will, they won't achieve that.

They need to regain (or gain) the trust of Veterans and Service members back and do what has been promised. If they can't give what is promised, maybe we as a nation to be realistic and honest and instead scale back what they really can do, or what our government and citizens are willing to give up in order to achieve those promises.
 
Thank-You Jason for being up front on this... your solid as a rock.;)
 
So this VA backlog....everyone keeps talking about "veterans." Is this backlog MOSTLY effecting them or those on active duty the most?

Or are we all considered veterans at this time?
 
Also, what does the average wait time consist of? Does it mean start to finish or is it just wait time for percentages?
 
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