Veterans' benefit? VA, buried under claims, says it's finally digging out.
| Washington
Stories of US veterans streaming back from America鈥檚 wars and endeavoring to gamely navigate the Veterans Administration claims process have created a grim legend of wounded warriors waiting four years before the VA, buried under a mountain of paperwork, can even begin the process of looking into their benefits claims.
In fact, according to an August 2012 report from the VA鈥檚 Inspector General, the stacks of files grew so dense at the Winston-Salem, N.C., regional VA office that they 鈥渁ppeared to have the potential to compromise the [structural] integrity of the building.鈥�
According to the report, some 37,000 claims were in chaotic stacks, leading to a predictable 鈥渋ncreased risk of loss or misfiling鈥� and also exceeding the load-bearing capacity of the building by 39 pounds per square foot.
In the wake of this and other reports over the years 鈥� and the ensuing outcry from lawmakers and veterans advocacy groups 鈥� the VA has been laboring to bring down its backlog of claims, which VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has promised to end by 2015.
And in recent months, the agency has reported some success.
Efforts to speed up care for vets have included bringing high technology to the VA, in the form of a much-heralded recent move to get rid of paper files and computerize the claims process.
Earlier this year, the VA also established its own Center for Innovation, which is exploring products like mobile apps for vets and has reached out to entrepreneurs such as Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, in an effort to, for example, improve customer service.
Still, making a dent in the backlog of claims at the VA is no easy task. The department currently reports more than 800,000 petitions for which veterans are awaiting an answer.聽
More than half a million of them, roughly 525,000, are 鈥渂acklogged,鈥� meaning, by the definition Mr. Shinseki has put in place, that they have been pending for more than 125 days.
The hold-up in many cases has been complicated by the surge of veterans returning home with wounds from America鈥檚 decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the past four years alone, nearly 1 million veterans were added to the VA鈥檚 compensation rolls.聽
鈥淰eterans submitting claims today claim many more medical conditions,鈥� says VA spokesman Randy Noller. This is 鈥渓argely because of multiple deployments and the fact they are 10 times as likely to survive today鈥檚 wars 鈥� but with multiple medical issues for a lifetime.鈥�
Then there was the decision made during Shinseki鈥檚 tenure to 鈥渞ight some old wrongs,鈥� Mr. Noller adds.聽
This includes making 鈥渢he long overdue decision鈥� to recognize for the first time what in military parlance is known as the 鈥減resumption of service connection鈥� for diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, Gulf War illness, and what the VA has determined to be Agent Orange-related conditions, including Parkinson鈥檚 disease.
This in turn has led to another million new claims, Mr. Noller says.
Other factors complicate the claims process, too, highlighted by a widely circulated exchange last week between Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D) of Illinois and a contractor who claimed a disability benefit for an injury he sustained in a military preparatory school 鈥� a case that grabbed the attention of veterans groups.
Disabled veterans who own small businesses receive preference when they bid for a government contracts.
The contractor, Braulio Castillo, president and CEO of Strong Castle Inc., in Washington, D.C., currently receives monthly checks for an ankle injury, which he says he sustained while playing football or orienteering.聽He was given a 30 percent disability rating by the VA, citing 鈥渢he crosses that I bear in my service to our great country,鈥� Representative Duckworth noted as she read Mr. Castillo鈥檚 letter aloud during the hearing.
Castillo did not return calls or e-mails for comment on this story.
A visibly angry Duckworth, a veteran Army pilot and double amputee whose helicopter was shot down over Iraq 鈥� and who was subsequently given a 20 percent disability rating by the VA 鈥� took Castillo to task for taking advantage of the system.聽
鈥淵ou broke the trust of veterans. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans right now are waiting an average of 237 days for an initial disability rating. It is because people like you who are gaming the system are adding to that backlog that young men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress, who are missing limbs, cannot get the compensation and the help that they need,鈥� she told him.
鈥淵ou, who never picked up a weapon in defense of this great nation, very cynically took advantage of the system.鈥澛�
Veterans groups applauded Duckworth.
鈥淚 think that Congresswoman Duckworth was right to take him to task, and I鈥檓 glad she did it,鈥� says Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. 鈥淥bviously we don鈥檛 want to get into the game of saying, 鈥楳y injury is 鈥榖etter鈥� than your injury,鈥� 鈥� he adds, 鈥渂ut there have been problems of gaming the system in general.鈥澛�
Yet the contrast between a 20 percent disability rating for a double amputee helicopter pilot who was shot down in Iraq and a 30 percent rating for a person who injured an ankle playing sports in a military preparatory school illustrates the dilemmas that the VA must grapple with as well: make the process too easy and risk rewarding those who may be tempted to game the system, but make the process too complex and demanding and risk denying claims to a veteran who needs help.
鈥淪peed is one value, but accuracy is perhaps more important,鈥� says former Pentagon official Phillip Carter, a senior fellow and counsel at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank. 鈥淭hese claims decisions can last for a lifetime, and it鈥檚 really important that the VA gets it right.鈥澛�
The best way to navigate this tough terrain, VA officials say, is to have as much documentation made easily available through electronic means as possible, as well as giving private doctors the chance to weigh in on a complex process that until recently did not have a standardized form for physicians to fill out.聽
In the past, the VA claims process 鈥渉as been a fractured, disjointed, almost Kafka-esque terrain,鈥� says Jonah Czerwinski, director of the VA Center for Innovation.
One of the center鈥檚 chief aims today is searching for 鈥渙pportunities to demystify the VA process for the customer, and find ways to make it more accessible and useful for the veteran and the taxpayer,鈥� he says.聽
To this end, the center reached out to Mr. Newmark of Craigslist, whose job title at the company he owns is 鈥渃ustomer service representative.鈥澛燭hese consultations have in turn encouraged VA officials to 鈥渢hink through ways we weren鈥檛 breaking the back of the backlog, from the customer standpoint,鈥� Mr. Czerwinski says.
鈥淚n a lot of ways, what we are is a customer service organization, more so than almost any other federal agency,鈥� he adds.聽
Every year, for example, more than 6.5 million vets receive health care through the VA, and more than 1 million submit claims to the VA for compensation.聽
These new areas of focus for the VA have resulted in positive trends, in the form of 鈥渟low, grinding progress 鈥� but the direction of the progress is pretty clear,鈥� says Mr. Carter of CNAS, who notes that the backlog numbers for the VA have 鈥済one down for 11 straight weeks.鈥澛�
VA officials say they have at last reached a 鈥渢ipping point,鈥� having cut the department鈥檚 backlog of disability claims by 74,000 since last April.聽
In the meantime, a handful of the VA鈥檚 56 regional offices is beginning to meet the goal of processing all disability benefit claims within 125 days.聽
VA officials say they are studying these 鈥減ockets of success鈥� to glean lessons-learned for the rest of the VA鈥檚 regional offices.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in the home stretch for eliminating the backlog,鈥� says Czerwinski.
Mr. Tarantino of the IAVA, which has been critical of the VA in the past, says he, too, sees progress. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 going to be enough to get through the backlog by 2015, but we鈥檙e extremely pleased that the VA has rolled out its new electronic system.鈥澛�
He notes that in the past few weeks the VA has stopped accepting paper documents and now uses scanners. 鈥淭hey went from a completely paper-based system to a digital system in the space of a year.鈥澛�
鈥淚 hate to say that doing things electronically is revolutionary, but for them it is absolutely revolutionary,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t is huge.鈥�
