Va Claim Backlog Update 06

[free_spirit_etc]

http://www.geocities.com/vfw9951/docs/AFNEWS.html

VA CLAIM BACKLOG UPDATE 06: The worst city in which to file a veterans’ benefits claim is Washington, where 63% of claims take longer than six months to resolve, according to a major veterans’ service organization. AMVETS, a 60-year-old group that helps veterans with about 24,000 claims a year, says a survey has shown veterans in Fargo, N.D.; Boise, Idaho; and Providence, R.I., have the fastest service, with only 6 to 7% of claims taking longer than six months to resolve. Washington may be the worst, but other major cities also are slow. AMVETS national service officer and Navy veteran Luz Rebollar said in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Montgomery AL about 40% of the claims take longer than six months to process. One reason for the differences is that the number of people assigned to process claims in some VA regions does not match the claims caseloads in those areas. For example, VA workers in Hartford CT handle 92 cases a year, while workers in Augusta ME handle 57 cases a year.

The Bush administration has proposed hiring 450 additional claims processors to try to reduce the backlog, but AMVETS officials have warned that more people will not solve the problem and, unless the caseloads are more evenly spread, will not eliminate delays for some people. AMVETS is pushing the idea of allowing electronic claims filing and other efforts to use technology to help process claims. “The backlog issue is not going to go away until the federal government rolls up its sleeves and takes a serious look at expediting the resolution of claims,” Rebollar said. “Until that happens, young veterans just returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to continue to be frustrated with our government and with a system they believe is failing to fulfill the promises that were made to them when they entered the service.” To review the delay time in your city refer to www.navytimes.com/projects/pages/042007vastats. [source: NavyTimes Rick Maze article 20 Apr 07 ++]

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That kind of surprises me --NOT the backlog - but the case load. I actually thought the VA case loads would be much higher than that.

Free

[Pete53]

Wow 57 to 93 claims a year they are really busting their asses aren't they?

[LarryJ]

Heck, we DO have "electronic claims filing"!

I filed my first claim, approx. 4 years ago, over the internet.

It's what they do with the claim once they get it.

As far as 90 someodd claims in CT. Bullpoop!

[free_spirit_etc]

That is what I thought. It seems like with that case load you would have time to do a pretty adequate job of handling the claims. Though I don't know what all is involved because it seems like the c-file keeps being passed like a baton in a very slow race - from one person to the next.

I know it is sometimes easy to sit back and look at someone else's job and think there is a better way to do it - because you don't understand the whole process.

If the caseload was 57 - 93 cases a WEEK - I could understand the delay AND the tendency to just glance through the case file.

But if it really is 57 to 93 cases a YEAR - it would seem like they would have time to read the C-file.

Free

Wow 57 to 93 claims a year they are really busting their asses aren't they?

[Josephine]

Free,

When I read this, I thought that this must be a typing error. I don't know the system that well. I was always under the impression, by what the counselors always told me that they had thousands of claims a month.

So much for that.

Josephine

[SLEDGE]

In order to rduce the backlog,

all they have to do is more of what they have always done.

Deny without processing the evidence, but faster.

The number of people do not determine quality.

Quality determines whether or not the claim rotates through the system for 50 years or not.

Rotating claims are choking the system.

Had the VA actually been accuately diagnosing and properly treating my service connected medical problems in the 70's, I would be gainfully employed today and have nothing to bitch about.

Their medical system failure has caused my disabilities to advance at a grossly accelerated rate.

Instead of advancing myself in the civilian workforce, I became unemployable in 1982.

They finally diagnosed spinal problems, anxiety disorder, sleep apnea and arthritis in 1984.

In 96 I was just trying to get 'something for nothing'.

sledge

[Vike17]

This is such a mis-leading article. I've talked to raters and DRO's before and I think they are required to do at least four decisions a day. This also jives with what numerous raters and DRO's say elsewhere on numerous other boards that help with veterans claims.

So now that we have an accurate number, do the math. In one year that's 1040 claims. Now take away sick leave and vacation ect... a rater and/or DRO are probably writing about 600-700 claims a year!

One other thing to take into consideration is the amount of claims that need to be reviewed in a day in order to write four decisions, or the number of disabilities claimed at one time. Many claims are simply not ready for a decision and need further development. So the number of claims a rater or DRO actually look at every day are much more than the four claims that they have finished.

Vike 17

Oooops, my mistake, it's at least three claims a day, not four. so that would be about 780 claims a year (260 less than previuosly posted). So after the vacationa and sick leave is subtracted, a decsion maker is proabably making about 400-500 decisions a year.

One thing I didn't mention is that most RO's are working six days a week to either make these quotos or are doing so to make over the quota.

Edited May 13, 2007 by Vike17