This is due in part to increased filing of claims, including those filed  by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Moreover, questions  remain about consistency of VA’s decisions across regional offices and at  the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Similarly, as shown in figure 2, VA reduced the average age of its pending  claims from 182 days at the end of fiscal year 2001 to 111 days at the end  of fiscal year 2003. However, by the end of fiscal year 2006 average days  pending had increased to 127 days. Rating-related  claims, including those filed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan  conflicts, increased steadily from about 579,000 in fiscal year 2000 to about  806,000 in fiscal year 2006, an increase of about 39 percent. Despite VA’s Continuing Steps, a Number of Factors May Limit Its Ability to Improve Claims Processing

VA has recently taken several steps to improve service delivery, but their  potential to lead to significant improvements may be limited by several  factors. VA’s budget justification  provides information on actual and planned productivity, in terms of  claims decided per full-time equivalent employee. VA expects that this new process will reduce the time needed to  obtain the evidence needed to decide claims. To resolve appeals faster, VA has been working to reduce the number of  appeals sent back by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals for further work such  as obtaining additional evidence and correcting procedural errors. Despite these efforts, VA may be limited in its ability to make and sustain  significant claims processing performance improvements. Recent history  has shown that VA’s claims processing workload and performance are  affected by several factors, including the impacts of laws and court  decisions, increasing numbers and complexity of claims, and difficulties in  obtaining accurate and timely information to adjudicate claims. Since  1999, several court decisions and laws related to VA’s responsibilities to  assist veterans in developing their benefit claims have significantly  affected VA’s ability to process claims in a timely manner. Opportunities for Improvement May Lie in More Fundamental Reform

While VA is taking actions to address its claims processing challenges,  there are opportunities for more fundamental reform that could  dramatically improve decision making and processing. These include  reexamining program design, as well as the structure and division of labor  among field offices. Veterans’ Benefits: Improvements Needed in the Reporting and Use of  Data on the Accuracy of Disability Claims Decisions. Department of Veterans Affairs: Key Management Challenges in Health  and Disability Programs. Veterans’ Benefits: Quality Assurance for Disability Claims and Appeals  Processing Can Be Further Improved. This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the  United States.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee asked GAO to discuss its recent work related to the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) disability claims and appeals processing. GAO has reported and testified on this subject on numerous occasions. GAO's work has addressed VA's efforts to improve the timeliness and accuracy of decisions on claims and appeals, VA's efforts to reduce backlogs, and concerns about decisional consistency.

What GAO Found

VA continues to face challenges in improving service delivery to veterans, specifically in speeding up the process of adjudication and appeal, reducing the existing backlog of claims, and improving the accuracy and consistency of decisions. For example, as of the end of fiscal year 2006, rating-related compensation claims were pending an average of 127 days, 16 days more than at the end of fiscal year 2003. During the same period, the inventory of rating-related claims grew by almost half, due in part to increased filing of claims, including those filed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Meanwhile, appeals resolution remains a lengthy process, taking an average of 657 days in fiscal year 2006. Further, we and VA's Inspector General have identified concerns about the consistency of decisions by VA's regional offices and the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA). VA is taking steps to address these problems. For example, the President's fiscal year 2008 budget requests an increase of over 450 full-time equivalent employees to process compensation claims. VA is working to improve appeals timeliness by reducing appeals remanded for further work. VA is also developing a plan to monitor consistency across regional offices. However, several factors may limit VA's ability to make and sustain significant improvements in its claims processing performance, including the potential impacts of laws and court decisions, continued increases in the number and complexity of claims being filed, and difficulties in obtaining the evidence needed to decide claims in a timely and accurate manner, such as military service records. Opportunities for significant performance improvement may lie in more fundamental reform of VA's disability compensation program. This could include reexamining program design such as updating the disability criteria to reflect the current state of science, medicine, technology, and labor market conditions. It could also include examining the structure and division of labor among field offices.