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Military Times: New hires won't speed VA claims soon
Fri, February 26, 2010
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 26, 2010 12:50:55 EST
Key senators said Friday they are pleased that the Veterans Affairs Department is hiring more than 4,000 more claims processors, but they are worried this won't result in most veterans getting their disability benefits any faster.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki acknowledged that immediate progress might be elusive. It will take up to two years to fully train the new workers, even as the number of claims being filed continues to climb, he said in testimony before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
In 2009, VA received more than 1 million disability claims, and expects a 13 percent increase this year and an 11 percent increase in 2011, he said. That does not include an additional one-time flood of claims expected in 2011 stemming from an expansion of Agent Orange-related claims from Vietnam veterans, he said.
That alone could result in 228,000 claims, he said.
The 2011 VA budget includes an increase of 4,048 full-time equivalent positions for claims processors, a number that includes making permanent some temporary positions.
Even with those increases, VA officials have warned that the average waiting time for claims is expected to grow from 161 days today to 190 days in 2011. But if the extra claims workers were not hired, the average wait would be 250 days, officials said.
Veterans' committee members are prepared for the temporary increase in the belief that things will get better after the flood of Agent Orange claims is processed and after the new workers are fully trained.
But there is a fear that some bottlenecks that have not been addressed could remain in the claims process. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said he is concerned that there is no increase in the budget for people who handle appeals if a veteran is dissatisfied with the initial decision on a claim.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he was worried that VA might push too hard to process claims at the expense of making more mistakes, a problem that Shinseki acknowledged could happen if VA doesn't maintain an emphasis on quality.
John Wilson of Disabled American Veterans said he believes VA will have enough people to process claims with the new hires if they are properly trained.
"Training ... has not been a high enough priority in VA," Wilson said.
VA also lacks a strong quality control procedure on claims to identify mistakes, including who is making them, so corrective action can be taken, he said.
Shinseki said hiring more people was a temporary "brute force" response to an increase in claims, and that the long-term answer to keeping up with disability requests is to have a mostly automated process.
Several pilot projects are underway in that area, he said.
ORIGINAL STORY: LINK
Posted : Friday Feb 26, 2010 12:50:55 EST
Key senators said Friday they are pleased that the Veterans Affairs Department is hiring more than 4,000 more claims processors, but they are worried this won't result in most veterans getting their disability benefits any faster.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki acknowledged that immediate progress might be elusive. It will take up to two years to fully train the new workers, even as the number of claims being filed continues to climb, he said in testimony before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
In 2009, VA received more than 1 million disability claims, and expects a 13 percent increase this year and an 11 percent increase in 2011, he said. That does not include an additional one-time flood of claims expected in 2011 stemming from an expansion of Agent Orange-related claims from Vietnam veterans, he said.
That alone could result in 228,000 claims, he said.
The 2011 VA budget includes an increase of 4,048 full-time equivalent positions for claims processors, a number that includes making permanent some temporary positions.
Even with those increases, VA officials have warned that the average waiting time for claims is expected to grow from 161 days today to 190 days in 2011. But if the extra claims workers were not hired, the average wait would be 250 days, officials said.
Veterans' committee members are prepared for the temporary increase in the belief that things will get better after the flood of Agent Orange claims is processed and after the new workers are fully trained.
But there is a fear that some bottlenecks that have not been addressed could remain in the claims process. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said he is concerned that there is no increase in the budget for people who handle appeals if a veteran is dissatisfied with the initial decision on a claim.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he was worried that VA might push too hard to process claims at the expense of making more mistakes, a problem that Shinseki acknowledged could happen if VA doesn't maintain an emphasis on quality.
John Wilson of Disabled American Veterans said he believes VA will have enough people to process claims with the new hires if they are properly trained.
"Training ... has not been a high enough priority in VA," Wilson said.
VA also lacks a strong quality control procedure on claims to identify mistakes, including who is making them, so corrective action can be taken, he said.
Shinseki said hiring more people was a temporary "brute force" response to an increase in claims, and that the long-term answer to keeping up with disability requests is to have a mostly automated process.
Several pilot projects are underway in that area, he said.
ORIGINAL STORY: LINK
