End All Backlog By 2015?

[bojack]

I heard President Obama and VA Secretary told press their goal is to end all backlog by 2015. Is this true?

Is that a good thing or bad thing for us because won't they just rush the process (rushing menas less accurate I am guessing).

Thankse everyone.

I am still waiting for my decision (been fighting since 02/06/2014).

[Fat]

The reasons are three fold and several easy resolutions would help.

1. The VA must simplify the process for veterans. Too often many veterans feel they have a slam dunk claim, but are often denied. The window must be expanded for continuity of care requirement. Many veterans get treatment for issues when they are initially discharged, but never think to keep medical information. When they do learn about the VA, it is often several years later and then they are missing years of medical evidence to satisfy the continuity of care requirement. In addition, some places discard medical records after seven years and that creates another hurdle for the veteran to overcome. Continuity of care should encompass a timeline which focuses less on initial years after service care, but total years spent addressing issue. Its possible to have ten years of medical care; however because you don't have the medical records for the initial two or three years after discharging you cant meet the requirement for continuity.

2. Make the process transparent. Let veterans specifically know what medical information is needed for a claim. It would cut down on miscellaneous paperwork from the veteran and help the VA worker to make a decision if the claim can be quickly forwarded to the next stage. I feel veterans often just throw lots of information at the issue and hope it sticks. I really cant blame the veteran because they have general knowledge of the process, but really don't know what information concretely solidifies a successful claim. TELL THE VETERAN WHAT YOU NEED IN MEDICAL INFORMATION AND ALLOW THEM AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE IT. Also, no more denial letters which seem cryptic in nature. Tell the veteran point blank why his claim was denied and what is needed for a successful claim.

3. Hire more workers. Make addressing the backload a priority and temporarily hire workers to help. The new hires would make sure paperwork is where it should be (in file), notify veteran what medical information is needed, and in some simple claims be able to make decisions without a more experienced persons approval. The telephone call would be helpful in informing the veteran what information is needed so the claim can continue to move and not become stagnant.

[rootbeer22]

Folks:

I'm an analyst and agree with a lot of what I have seen for this topic. As a result, I've read a lot of articles, congressional testimony, criticisms and analysis with regard to VA Disability Claims. My first claim is going thru the system now and I plan to publish an article about my own experience. Overall, although there are a lot of complaints from all sides, the issues are very complex and complicated? It's also a very generous system that pays out a great deal of money and benefits which are well deserved by many. I mostly agree with the issue of government transparency so veterans can see what is going on with their claims or appeals at any given time. Most Vets would be thrilled to just get a call giving them an update of their claims and/or appeals? However, I don't know how practical that would be given the huge backlog? Ebenefits has been designed primarily to try and fill part of that communications gap but the updates are only as good as the folks putting them into the system. I know a lot of Vets either don't trust the info or it's so outdated that it serves very little purpose. But, at least it's something and in some cases it can be very helpful. More importantly, Vets should be able to trust the data that VBA provides at all levels. I've noticed the trend that the total number of disability claims are decreasing slightly but vets are now reporting that denials, deferrals and/or subsequent appeals are increasing significantly as well. So, it's clear with the push to clear the backlog means an even longer wait under appeals. Although I applaud the effort for the new VBMS System to digitise claims for processing, I am worried about the accurracy of the conversions of the records for veterans with older-handwritten medical records? My point to all of this is that there's always a cost when sufficient resources are not avaialbe to solve a particular problem -like the backlog of diability claims. There's no question, that huge amounts of money have already been spent to try and fix the problem with regard to claims processing. But, at some point the entire VA Disability System needs to be revised from top to bottom to streamline the claims process from end to end. Regardless of how anyone of us feel, the VBA employees are really trying to do right by Vets and seem to be working diligently within the confines of the system they've been given to operate in.

Edited August 28, 2014 by rootbeer22

[TiredCoastie]

Good anaysis, Rootbeer.

There is a lot of finger pointing between the union and management. Lots of money has been dumped into the VBA both in terms of VBMS and new employees and then some. The overall number of claims held by the VBA, assuming those numbers are accurate, has dropped significantly since the high water mark of over 843,000 in July, 2012, to 510,954 this past Monday - almost 40% fewer on hand after 25 months. From that measure then, something is working even without revamping the entire system. But is it working well? Multiple measures point otherwise.

The problem is that there is evidence that the appeals backlog is getting larger and larger. Either that means that

1. Veterans are better educated on their disabilties and how those disabilites should be service connected and rated

or

2. The rush to reduce the backlog is increasing the error rate.

So the RO can speed to an answer ("speed" is a relative term and for those who have waiting months and years for a claim to close - you don't have to say it, I know) but it takes time to make a good decision. It reminds me of a guy I used to work for. When someone came running into his office, hair on fire, demanding something, he would say "You can have it good, right, or now. Pick two."

Do most of those employees want to make a good and right decision? Sure. Basic pride in one's work dictates that most employees will do their best in a descent environment and especially within a culture in which achieving the best is rewarded and celebrated. Even in poor workplace environments, more often than not a sense of pride in one's work will drive a better product.

The original question this posting was whether or not the VBA could achieve a zero backlog in 2015 - which was and remains a great question. I wonder now if the better question is whether or not a veteran can receive what he or she thinks is a satifactory answer within five years?

[Chuck75]

I'd say that getting a zero backlog and 100% accurate decisions is something that will not happen in my lifetime.

The VA has decades of history and complaints showing that it did not and does not properly do what it's required to do in law.

[TiredCoastie]

I'd say that getting a zero backlog and 100% accurate decisions is something that will not happen in my lifetime.

The VA has decades of history and complaints showing that it did not and does not properly do what it's required to do in law.

Or ever, Chuck. We don't live in a perfect world. If we did, we wouldn't need VA benefits in the first place.

[jbasser]

Lets not try to psychoanalyze the VA. They use enough bull already. SImplicity is the rule. They reduce the claims backlog and the appeals backlog simply risis to the number of the claims that have been reduced. This is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

This will not change in our lifetimes. Sad but true.