Processing Of Claims Targeted For Extra Personnel

[LarryJ]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 14, 2010

Secretary Shinseki Announces Staffing Boost with Recovery Act Funds

Processing of Claims Targeted for Extra Personnel

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is putting Americans to work with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, while bolstering staffing at VA benefits offices where Veterans' claims are processed.

“Our hiring has put about approximately 2,300 people in jobs at these important local offices where staffs are working hard to process claims for eligible Veterans and their family members,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

The new hires do not directly decide Veterans claims, but they are involved in general office administrative work supporting the professional adjudicators making compensation or pension decisions or processing changes in Veterans benefits. This frees the more highly trained personnel to spend more time on their core activities.

VA expects the additional staffing will reduce the time it takes VA to process claims, meaning Veterans will receive benefits more quickly than they would otherwise.

The Recovery Act provided $150 million for the program to hire and train the new staffers. VA has hired 500 new staff members as permanent employees. While Recovery Act funding for the temporary employees will expire in September 2010, the 2011 President's budget includes funds to retain or replace these employees on a permanent basis and to hire more than 2,000 additional new processors.

[Berta]

Vync- if I had his job I put kick people out of the ROs so fast their heads would spin- and then I would hire lawyers versed in VA case law to place them. For every 10 raters and DROs who dont have a clue- one good lawyer replacing every ten VA claims employees could do the job better and faster by replacing them.

[john999]

Before I started to read about VA rules and regs I believed that doctors decided claims based on the evidence. I did not understand that clerks are the ones making decisions that mean life or death to some vet. I have had numerous decisions come back that neither me nor my doctor could understand. The decisions contradicted themselves and appeared to be written by a 8 year old. I think it is just a numbers game. If the VA can show X number of claims moved to the next step that is success. I believe they do not even keep statistics on how many claims are approved and how many denied. They tell us that they do not know the percentage of claims approved out of all claims filed. How can that be? That is fundamental to know this. They probably do know the number but they don't release it.

[Troy Spurlock]

VA'S WACO REGIONAL OFFICE FAILS VAOIG AUDIT

VA's Inspector General found 36% of veterans' claims were processed incorrectly and uncovered many other problems.

http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfapr10/nf041710-1.htm

...along with the high error rate we have the usual problems found at almost all ROs ... incorrect dates of claims ... personal information not safeguarded ... mail not handled properly ... and on and on.

Again we have the three "lacks" ...

1. Lack of training.

2. Lack of oversight.

3. Lack of accountability.

What's #1 on that list!?!?!

It's been the same problem since day one, and that is systemic from no one being qualified to adequately train people to properly read, interpret, and/or understand not only the regulations, but also in juxtaposing them with the medical data gleaned from C&P examinations and other submitted medical reports from outside the VA.

T.S.