BVA working fast

[Berta]

 

VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals resolves record number of claims to date for FY 2018

 "WASHINGTON — Underscoring the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) pledge to reduce the wait time for those appealing disability benefits claims, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, as of May 27, has signed more than 53,650 decisions to date in fiscal year (FY) 2018, which is approximately 86 percent more than the 28,839 decisions signed through the same period last year.

 The Board is currently on track to meet and exceed its FY 2018 total goal of reviewing a historic 81,000 appeals by Sept. 30, 2018.

This pace paves the way for implementation of the Appeals Modernization Act, which has a target implementation date of Feb. 14, 2019, and will offer Veterans more choice and control over their claims and appeals process. 

“I’m proud of the Board for its dedication and commitment toward resolving appeals decisions for Veterans, and striving to reach a historic fiscal year goal of 81,000 appeals decisions delivered to Veterans,” said VA’s Acting Secretary Peter O’Rourke. “The Board’s significant increase in results for Veterans and their families serves as another strong example of the department’s commitment to getting it right for Veterans.”

In FY 2017, Congress allocated the Board approximately $42 million, which was used to hire additional staff, primarily more than 200 decision-writing attorneys and 24 Veterans law judges. The increase in staff, along with streamlining several processes, contributed to the result.

VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals’ mission is to conduct hearings and decide appeals in a timely manner. VA’s disability appeals process is a complex, multi-step adjudication process that uses “open records,” which allows Veterans to submit medical and lay evidence at any point from the beginning to the end of the process, including while the claim is pending on appeal; this may, in turn, require VA to develop further evidence on the Veteran’s behalf."

 

https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=4066  June 4, 2018 5:02 PM

 

 

###

[broncovet]

This is good.  However, if you read the BVA "chairmans report" for 2017, you can see that the Veterans appeal "does not even reach" the BVA for more than 1200 days.  That is, the VARO has to issue a SOC, then, after the Vet files the I9, the VARO has to "certify" and send it to the BVA.  This means the VARO "sits" on your appeal for almost 3 years before they even send it to the Board.  

Speeding up the BVA is good, but the real slow part happens BEFORe THE BVA.  A typical claim is only at the BVA for a year, and the other 4 years is super slow VARO.  Why dont they fix that, too?  

My NOD was filed in early 2017, and its not at the BVA yet.  In 2020, the VARO will get around to mailing it to the BVA.  Talk about "snail mail", that is it.  

[Richard1954]

47 minutes ago, broncovet said:

 

My NOD was filed in early 2017, and its not at the BVA yet.  In 2020, the VARO will get around to mailing it to the BVA.  Talk about "snail mail", that is it.  

It took ten years for my NOD to reach the BVA,  I had the hearing about one month ago and I still await the decision... good luck but based on my situation it will be a while