A friend sent me an e-mail concerning the above article and my reply follows:
No, I had not seen that report, but I was aware of the situation in New York. Management apprised its workers of the New York problem several weeks ago and have indicated that they do not want it to happen at this office. They gave amnesty to employees that had mail at their stations too long. Regional Offices (RO's) receive a tremendous amount of mail and it is supposed to be processed within 7 days. However, rarely are RO's ethically able to meet that standard. RO's are understaffed and employees are under great pressure to earn their assigned credits / points. It is not difficult for me to imagine that when mail begins to pile up that some of it is "lost," "misplaced," or destroyed. No employee wants to be placed on a performance improvement plan--PIP, because if he/she continues to under performed that individual can be fired, reassigned, demoted, etc. The New York RO is probably similar to many RO's around the country; that is, you have managers setting arbitrary performance standards and goals without relevant stakeholders' input. I am always amazed when I attend a meeting and management wants something done, without first consulting pertinent actors to determine if such a thing is possible. It does not surprise me that there were managers instructing employees to mislabel documents. There are various methods that the VA employs to suggest that it is meeting certain bench marks. For example, if a particular RO had 10, 000 claims pending and it wanted to present an image that it was doing its best to reduce the caseload, it could work on the available EP 190 (widows seeking compensation) and postpone EP 110 (veterans' initial claim). EP 190 can be done relatively fast, while some EP 110 may take hours or days to complete.
There is a huge problem when an employee cannot go to his/her coach (manager) and explain that a certain claim required extra effort and his/her assigned quota should be waived for that day. My coach has indicated on numerous occasions that he/she does not want to hear it. The VA, or at least my RO, treats claims as if they are all similar--when in fact, they are not. Some veterans have military medical records that occupy 3-4 volumes and require a significant amount of time to review. However, with the time constraints in place, maybe one of those volumes wil be properly reviewed and the others--well, ignored or glanced over.
The New York situation is so upsetting because, to a certain degree, it confirms what some veterans have maintained for quite some time: namely, that they have submitted claims and the VA incidentally or purposely lost it. The date of receipt is so important because it establishes the effective date of an award if compensation is granted. For instance, one RO receives a claim February 2008; however, it does not date stamp it until May 2008. In that typical VA scenario the veteran will lose a considerable amount of compensation. I know of a veteran that submitted his/her claim in three different ways: USPS mail, hand carried, and faxed. He/she did not perform all three actions in a single day, but several weeks apart. As far as I know, only one method worked, which mean, in this true example, there was a 33% probability that his/her claim would be received.
I spoke with some workers and almost everyone may be inclined to ignore evidence--mail. If a rater has just completed a decision and someone in Triage brings him/her mail while the decision letter is done, that evidence may reverse his/her entire decision or worse the person may have to defer the claim in order to request a medical opinion. Raters at my office receive no credit for deferrals. Thus, that mail may be placed in the rear of the c-folder, which I have come across.
Additionally, some of the responsibility must also be placed with the citizenry. Yes, we "support" our troops with bumper stickers, yellow ribbons, and enjoy our annual day off from work. However, I am not sure many of them will support the troops by agreeing to a slightly higher tax increase or even allow veterans to be relieved, to some degree-- of taxes, healthcare and education expenses. The VA is under funded and understaffed and many of us know this already.
There are numerous problems with the VA: 1) not diagnosing PTSD; 2) shredding mail; 3) ignoring issues claimed by a veteran; 4) inadequate healthcare for veterans. I have read many reports where a veteran should have received compensation for a military related disability; however, the physician thought otherwise.
What's striking is the lack of interest and concern our government, VSO's, and even some veterans have shown concerning veteran issues.
At the very minimum, the Director of New York RO should have been demoted.
In any event, the VA reacts extremely slow. Agent Orange took 20 years to recognize (but saved billions of dollars) and I am quit sure there are other disabilities related to exposure. Gulf War Syndrome took 15 years to acknowledge. Haas (blue water veterans, mainly sailors) have already been told that they were not exposed to Agent Orange as their ship were not in-country in Vietnam. I wonder how some of those barrels of herbicides made it to VN: Cargo planes, yes; ships, more likely than not.
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George Patton
VA Ousts Managers for Claims Deception
A friend sent me an e-mail concerning the above article and my reply follows:
No, I had not seen that report, but I was aware of the situation in New York. Management apprised its workers of the New York problem several weeks ago and have indicated that they do not want it to happen at this office. They gave amnesty to employees that had mail at their stations too long. Regional Offices (RO's) receive a tremendous amount of mail and it is supposed to be processed within 7 days. However, rarely are RO's ethically able to meet that standard. RO's are understaffed and employees are under great pressure to earn their assigned credits / points. It is not difficult for me to imagine that when mail begins to pile up that some of it is "lost," "misplaced," or destroyed. No employee wants to be placed on a performance improvement plan--PIP, because if he/she continues to under performed that individual can be fired, reassigned, demoted, etc. The New York RO is probably similar to many RO's around the country; that is, you have managers setting arbitrary performance standards and goals without relevant stakeholders' input. I am always amazed when I attend a meeting and management wants something done, without first consulting pertinent actors to determine if such a thing is possible. It does not surprise me that there were managers instructing employees to mislabel documents. There are various methods that the VA employs to suggest that it is meeting certain bench marks. For example, if a particular RO had 10, 000 claims pending and it wanted to present an image that it was doing its best to reduce the caseload, it could work on the available EP 190 (widows seeking compensation) and postpone EP 110 (veterans' initial claim). EP 190 can be done relatively fast, while some EP 110 may take hours or days to complete.
There is a huge problem when an employee cannot go to his/her coach (manager) and explain that a certain claim required extra effort and his/her assigned quota should be waived for that day. My coach has indicated on numerous occasions that he/she does not want to hear it. The VA, or at least my RO, treats claims as if they are all similar--when in fact, they are not. Some veterans have military medical records that occupy 3-4 volumes and require a significant amount of time to review. However, with the time constraints in place, maybe one of those volumes wil be properly reviewed and the others--well, ignored or glanced over.
The New York situation is so upsetting because, to a certain degree, it confirms what some veterans have maintained for quite some time: namely, that they have submitted claims and the VA incidentally or purposely lost it. The date of receipt is so important because it establishes the effective date of an award if compensation is granted. For instance, one RO receives a claim February 2008; however, it does not date stamp it until May 2008. In that typical VA scenario the veteran will lose a considerable amount of compensation. I know of a veteran that submitted his/her claim in three different ways: USPS mail, hand carried, and faxed. He/she did not perform all three actions in a single day, but several weeks apart. As far as I know, only one method worked, which mean, in this true example, there was a 33% probability that his/her claim would be received.
I spoke with some workers and almost everyone may be inclined to ignore evidence--mail. If a rater has just completed a decision and someone in Triage brings him/her mail while the decision letter is done, that evidence may reverse his/her entire decision or worse the person may have to defer the claim in order to request a medical opinion. Raters at my office receive no credit for deferrals. Thus, that mail may be placed in the rear of the c-folder, which I have come across.
Additionally, some of the responsibility must also be placed with the citizenry. Yes, we "support" our troops with bumper stickers, yellow ribbons, and enjoy our annual day off from work. However, I am not sure many of them will support the troops by agreeing to a slightly higher tax increase or even allow veterans to be relieved, to some degree-- of taxes, healthcare and education expenses. The VA is under funded and understaffed and many of us know this already.
There are numerous problems with the VA: 1) not diagnosing PTSD; 2) shredding mail; 3) ignoring issues claimed by a veteran; 4) inadequate healthcare for veterans. I have read many reports where a veteran should have received compensation for a military related disability; however, the physician thought otherwise.
What's striking is the lack of interest and concern our government, VSO's, and even some veterans have shown concerning veteran issues.
At the very minimum, the Director of New York RO should have been demoted.
In any event, the VA reacts extremely slow. Agent Orange took 20 years to recognize (but saved billions of dollars) and I am quit sure there are other disabilities related to exposure. Gulf War Syndrome took 15 years to acknowledge. Haas (blue water veterans, mainly sailors) have already been told that they were not exposed to Agent Orange as their ship were not in-country in Vietnam. I wonder how some of those barrels of herbicides made it to VN: Cargo planes, yes; ships, more likely than not.
George Patton
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