Va Raters To Work Manditory Overtime On Claims Till Sept 30Th

[manning01]

Check this article out. Glad to see they are making them work more hours to work on our claims that have been sitting around collecting dust. Whether they accomplish anything more from this OT remains to be seen along with these so called provisional claims. At the same time as a DOD employee I'll be taking 11 days of furlough time off without pay starting in July till Sept while they do all this extra OT to make them look like they saved the day for us vets.

http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2444

http://www.stripes.com/news/va-workers-told-to-work-overtime-to-clear-claims-backlog-1.221099

[aggie54]

I really don't think that an extra 20 hours of overtime a month per employee is going to make such a big difference, heck, that's only 30 minutes extra per day per employee.

Half the time these employees are never working on anything when they are there on their 8 hour work day as it is.

This is only MHO.

[carlie]

Nothing new really, the VA employees have already been doing OT for almost a year.

I'll send a shout out to someone in the know on this subject.

[Veldrina]

It's actually disgusting that only VA (as far as i know) has been exempt from the furough, yet every other federal employee faces o pay for 11 days. Why we haven't risen as a nation & slain Congress is beyond me. Manning, my friend works in DoD as well & he keeps me updated on the goings-on over there, so I feel both your pain. :(

Yes, they did give us VA folk mandatory overtime (OT for short), which is usually more trouble than it's worth, since many of us will gladly work the non-mandatory hours if only they wouldn't put so many caps & stipulations on it. This all came about becuz COngress is trying to make a push to finish ALL over 2 yr claims. We in Ny have been making that our priority since Oct. so for us it's just business as usual, except they want us to step it up. The extra OT DOES result in more cases done. The problem is a lot of cases need developing & exams, which can take a long time, and in the meantime some genius in congress has decided to rearrange the teams YET AGAIN, in addition to the implementation of a brand new system that we will have to learn, so....yeah, lots of things happening at VA. Though I can assure u aggie, no one at my office is taking it easy & working only 'half the time' ;)

[71M10]

I agree the furloughs are punishing the workers, and that is by design! One side forces the budget cuts - the other side makes them as painful as possible.

As for Mandatory OT for VA raters. If the VA started working with the Mission in mind, instead of the process in mind, I suspect a lot of this timeliness would take care of its self.

Every new way to process/solution to the problem introduced in the last two decades has been predicated on it working within the existing rules, regulations and management structure (small changes to management, but not a complete re-invisioning).

Here is a radical idea. Lets put attorneys in the front end of the system. They would develop a clients claim, submit it in the proper format, it would have a cursory review and approval. Detailed audits would be done on samples. Attornies forwarding fraudulent claims would be investigated and jailed if they commited a crime(submission of a claim they new was fraudulent). The attornies(selected by the veteran) would be paid by VA, Non-VA doctors (selected by veteran and attorney) would conduct the exams and be paid by VA. Its not a perfect Idea, but at least it doesn't depend on the same group of people (who have demonstrated they can't fix it) to fix it.

The legal profession has changed significantly since the civil war. Attornies were put out of the process originally to protect veterans from being ripped off. The dynamic has changed, lawyers are now needed to prevent the veteran from getting ripped off by the government.

My nickels worth (used to be 2 cents-inflation),

Edited May 16, 2013 by 71M10

[indyman]

I do not think 20 hrs will really have an effect, other than taking the VA employees to a new all time low in morale and productivity. What I do not understand fully is the VBA has never to my knowledge worked more than one shift, except maybe coming in an hour later and staying a hour longer. Why they don't work two shifts is beyond me. Maybe an 8 to 4 and a 2 to 10? And maybe just until the backlog starts to show some relief. And 20 hours only raises the paycheck that is ate up by the tax man.

[AFButch]

The only way this will provide the result it implies is to also impose strict accountability for each of the Raters and others who have their fingers in the process. I have had supervisory positions where productivity was the heart of the operation. People get used to the "extra" money. SOME will drag their feet to insure the OT. I don't personally blame the Raters for this backlog, it was the system they are mandated to work within. I think allowing the Provisional claims will move claims forward at an accelerated rate. Not only to the Veteran but to the VA. It will possibly resolve some claims in its entirety when forced to realize they already have enough information for a decision. No need for that doctor's report who is NEVER going to send it, anyway. Prior to it, the claim just sat waiting for additional information. This gives the Rater the tool to move the claim forward.

I remain frustrated that the emphasis on the backlog has given the VA the license to avoid any work on non-rated claims, dependent claims sit without progression. THAT is NOT acceptable. ALL claims should be included in this backlog report.