Va Press Release On Claims Today

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VA to Expedite Claims Decisions for Veterans Who Have Waited a Year or More

April 19, 2013

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WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today it is implementing an initiative to expedite compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have waited one year or longer. Effective today, VA claims raters will make provisional decisions on the oldest claims in inventory, which will allow Veterans to begin collecting compensation benefits more quickly, if eligible. Veterans will be able to submit additional evidence for consideration a full year after the provisional rating, before VA issues a final decision.

“Too many Veterans wait too long for a decision, and this has never been acceptable,” said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. “That is why we are implementing an aggressive plan to eliminate the backlog in 2015. This initiative is the right thing to do now for Veterans who have waited the longest.”

Provisional decisions will be based on all evidence provided to date by the Veteran or obtained on their behalf by VA. If a VA medical examination is needed to decide the claim, it will be ordered and expedited.

“Issuing provisional decisions not only provides Veterans with applicable benefits much more quickly, but also gives them an additional one-year safety net to submit further evidence should it become available. Our door will remain open and if a Veteran has additional evidence, their case will be fast tracked,” said Allison Hickey, Undersecretary for Benefits.

If any increase is determined to be warranted based on the additional evidence received, benefits will be retroactive to the date the claim was initially filed. The initiative protects the Veteran’s right to appeal the decision. If no further evidence is received within that year, VBA will inform the Veteran that their rating is final and provide information on the standard appeals process, which can be found at http://www.bva.va.gov/

Throughout this initiative, VA will continue to prioritize claims for homeless Veterans and those claiming financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims. More information about filing Fully Developed Claims is available at: http://www.benefits.va.gov/transformation/fastclaims/

Claims for Wounded Warriors separating from the military for medical reasons will continue to be handled separately and on a priority basis with the Department of Defense through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). Wounded Warriors separating through IDES currently receive VA compensation benefits in an average of 61 days following their separation from service.

As a result of this initiative, metrics used to track benefits claims will experience significant fluctuations. The focus on processing the oldest claims will cause the overall measure of the average length of time to complete a claim - currently 286 days - to skew, rising significantly in the near term because of the number of old claims that will be completed. Over time, as the backlog of oldest claims is cleared and more of the incoming claims are processed electronically through VA’s new paperless processing system, VA’s average time to complete claims will significantly improve. In addition, the average days pending metric - or the average age of a claim in the inventory - will decrease, since the oldest claims will no longer be part of the inventory.

While compensation claims are pending, eligible Veterans are able to receive healthcare and other benefits from VA. Veterans who have served in recent conflicts are eligible for 5 years of free healthcare from VA. Currently, over 55% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are using VA health care, a rate of utilization greater than previous generations of Veterans.

Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense—VA web portal eBenefits at: https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits-portal/ebenefits.portal.

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[broncovet]

The VA is going to "hold on" to what Carlie said, using it as an "EXCUSE FACTORY":

"Gee..we are trying...we are getting initial claims that are over 40 years old done right now...We have to "hold off" on dependents claims until all VA executives get their bonuses before we can work on stuff like Vets stuff"....but by 2015 we anticipate having 98% accuracy and the backlog gone.."

[AFButch]

AF Butch,

a fully developed claim is a claim that is submitted to the VA with all documentation needed to support your claim.

I have been submitting dependency claims on a VA FM 21-526ez along with VA FM 21-686c. The payments on these claims have been taking about 6 months that I have seen.

Unfortunately, for you and hundreds of others, the dependency claims were not submitted with a VA FM 21-526ez, and that is one of the reasons why it's taking so long for these type claims.

I posted an additional response earlier to this subject where I went into detail about the processing of dependency claims.

Good luck!

Thank you for the interest in my post. I submitted a FM 21-686c and they show receipt of it along with all supporting documents 4/12/2012. I don't have record of a 21-526ez as having filed one. I do have a personal contact at my regional office and he has been prompt to respond to me, he assures me all they need is there. He has attempted to get the claim completed saying he even sent the file to a "Coach" which I assume means supervisor requesting expedited completion. His efforts were appreciated but did nothing to complete my claim. All I hear is that they simply are not working on dependent claims right now and will not be doing so until at the earliest July. I want my money and really need it to assist our budget but taking all into consideration, folks waiting YEARS for a compensation claim need theirs much more! Homeless Vets there because of delays to this retarded system is a shameful disgrace. Young folks trying to get by solely on their compensation claims have a greater need not only for a compensation claim completion but to keep their dependent allowance current. Their need exceed mine and almost makes me feel guilty complaining about it. I do not accept that the processing of one type of claim should justifiably effect the outcome of another. I think in my case, it was timing. At the time I filed, the VA was sending non-rated claims to a contracted business to "expedite" their processing. It was ACS in Kentucky. My claim went there. THEY sat on it until August 2012 at which time it was returned to my Regional Office as completed and ready for finalization. (I was told there was an "issue" with the contract with ACS which may or may not have contributed to my claim's delay.) But, Portland did not complete it, as stated above, it is in the Decision waiting approval phase and has been since Sept 2012 which was already at 5 months into processing. Now I am in the freezer far from the back burner with the policy to work on claims 2+ years or older leaving others to collect dust. So, I conclude there must be a reason I do not yet know for all these delays. Maybe something in my future will need this retro pay due to me. Positive and hopeful. Thanks again!

[AFButch]

AF Butch,

a fully developed claim is a claim that is submitted to the VA with all documentation needed to support your claim.

I have been submitting dependency claims on a VA FM 21-526ez along with VA FM 21-686c. The payments on these claims have been taking about 6 months that I have seen.

Unfortunately, for you and hundreds of others, the dependency claims were not submitted with a VA FM 21-526ez, and that is one of the reasons why it's taking so long for these type claims.

I posted an additional response earlier to this subject where I went into detail about the processing of dependency claims.

Good luck!

My request for clarification on fully developed claim relating to a dependent claim came promptly but of NO help. Response directly from the Portland, OR Regional office: Fully Developed Claims are those for Service Connection disability compensation or Non Service Connected Disability Pension. Dependency Claims are NOT considered as fully developed claims. They are considered Dependency Claims and as such are worked in a separate category than disability compensation claims.

[cham1968]

I, like many of you am very weary of this new "lip service". Shinseki just pisses me off! I just wish he would go away. Every 2 weeks he is coming out with a "new idea" to rid the backlog, we all know better than that.

I was thinking about a scenario with this "provisional rating" What if, just what if, a provisional rating was issued, after a few more years of collecting dust, this claim finds its way to a rater. This rater denies the claim. Now, this veteran with a provisional rating, will he/she have to pay back all monies. This could be bad for everybody!

I have spoke previously about the issue with the dependency and retro pay. In most VARO's the individuals working these claims were either promoted out of the job, moved or have been reassigned to work on the backlog of claims. These claims are now being handled as an additional duty. We all know what additional duties are. I simply agree, this is plain BS! it really doesn't take a lot of effort adjudicating dependency claims. In most cases DFAS computes the pay, then returns the claim to va with a set of orders authorizing the release of monies. Still, when VA receives this information, the veteran waits for his/her back pay. The longest I have seen a veteran wait on back pay is 24 MONTHS! Again, total BS. I helped this veteran with a congressional, to no avail, the VA told the congressman, the same they told him on the phone.

I have said this before and I will say it again, It is my opinion that the VA desperately needs new leadership, and until that happens we will still be in this pond water, moving no where.....

AMEN! AMEN! These people are just lining their pockets with bonuses etc..... I'm not saying its easy to advocate a disability claim; but, when your main objective is to deny, as it seems, then what you would end up with is a good worker puting in a decision then some idiot above them kicking it back to them(I guess) if they are not satisfied with it? Redundancy is addictive not cost effective when it comes to production. Train them, inspect them, and then retrain as things change or production slows. Everyone get's burned out here adn there give them a break by sending them to off station training. IJS

Thanks Meg

God Bless

[cham1968]

This seems like some real undercutting coming down the pipe. Here's your 10% all 8 other claims are deffered until we can get back to them. So what will be the timeline after your provisional claim is decided. WTH Let me stop, now I'm really getting peeeeved. LOL. Here's one for shitstinky, thanks for giving me something that looks like nothing, thanks for giving me all the time I needed to decide that YOU(VA) didn't actually need all that time in the first place. WTH is he serious, HE CAN'T BE? I've been working at this place (VA) and I now see why all the good DRs get the hell out of here and why most VETs still have private insurance. Most people at this level don't need 5 supervisors WHAT THEY NEED IS ONE GOOD LEADER!

HOLLA!!!

[cham1968]

Here's a solution shitstinky, Hire TEMP workers to handle all the claims that are basically yes or no. Now I'm no professional so I couldn't begin to actually no which those may be but I will guess and say dependents, Voc Rehab, educational, loan repayment, things of that nature. Also, quit letting the Union make you keep people that just aint doing there job or hindering others from doing theirs. Hold all accountable not just some, be fair but firm. GET off the buddy sytem when it comes to these High profile jobs better yet get off the buddy system period.

Enough Said

psssss goes the tab on my suuds