A Veteran's Call for Real Change

• The US Census Bureau reports in the 2000 Census that there were 26,403,703 veterans in the Nation and 420,971 in South Carolina.
• The 2000 Census states that there were 1,152,137 service members in the Armed Forces. The civilian population over the age of 18 was 208,130,352. This represents less than 1% of this population.
• 60 Minutes reported that $30 billion dollars – one third of the VA’s total budget was paid in disability compensation to nearly three million veterans. The nearly 3 million veterans receiving benefits only represents 11% of the eligible veterans in our Nation.

Objectives:

• Help you understand the claims process
• Explain your legal rights and responsibilities
• Explain VA responsibilities
• Help you assist VA
• Explain Direct and Presumptive Service Connection
• Explain New and Material evidence
• List VA recognized diseases/requirements for S/C
• Explain Other Issues – Pension, Death Benefits, etc

View Powerpoint presentation

Lack of accountability and oversight resulting in:

• A $1 billion shortfall because of faulty or deliberate accounting practices
• Two security breaches - one which jeopardized the personal identifiable information of our 26.5 millions veteran’s records which resulted in a 20 million dollars settlement for a laptop theft
• Hefty bonuses to Senior Executives at the Central and Regional Office levels for failure
• Over 1 million claims pending excluding the numerous claims that have not been accounted for
• 41 of 57 Regional Offices (RO) shredding VA records – 72%
• Cheating at VBA RO offices
• Lack of standardization at the local Regional Offices
• 10% of veteran’s claims folders lost/missing - VA Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) report
• Not so rosy picture of the conditions of VBA regional office during recent VAOIG inspections

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Assembly line approach vs. quality and service

• Meeting Production quotas trumps accuracy
• Leads to cheating

Creation of Resource/Appeal Management Centers

• Relieves Local Regional offices of accountability/responsibility
• Drains the VA budget of needed funds
• Benefits FEDEX more than veterans
• Creates a climate for more lost claims folders and service treatment records

Inadequate training of employees/supervisors leads to:

• Poor communication with veterans
• Inaccurate development of claims and rating decisions
• Creates more appeals

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No acknowledgement of the VBA initiatives
that should have balance the increase in claims

• Increase budget and personnel
• Improved technology
• Improved service by third parties federal agencies (ex: NPRC, JSRRC, SSA – response has been reduced from a high of 18 months to less than 30 days)
• Imaging of service records by the DOD which allows VBA to receive records in hours according to former Under Sec Cooper
• Overtime
• Transfer of claims to Resource Centers
• Consolidation of pension claims to the Pension Maintenance Centers
• Consolidation of Remands to the Appeals Management Centers
• Consolidation of special issues claims – radiation, mustard gas, Agent Orange Birth Effects
• Creation of National Call Centers

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Problems with the VBA

1. Lack of accountability
2. Production quotas trump quality and service
3. The VBA cannot manage the three-headed monster
4. The VBA continues to use an assembly line approach
5. The lack of quality training for VBA managers and employees
6. After 7 years of the CPI, Regional Offices still have autonomy
7. Failure is still rewarded

The Task Force identified it as a major problem

• "The Task Force was surprised by the apparent lack of uniformity in interpreting directives, compliance and ultimate accountability at the vast majority of the Regional Office…. VBA’s Central Office leadership gives the impression of neither demanding adherence to nor of being completely aware of the actual compliance to directives at the individual Regional Office level." VA Claims Processing Task Force Report, October 2001, pg 16 View Report

The GAO confirmed it

• “VBA has taken a number of steps to implement the VCAA, including issuing guidance, revising and supplementing this guidance based on questions raised by regional offices, and reinforcing the guidance based on the results of its accuracy reviews. Despite these efforts, VBA has found problems with consistent regional office compliance with the law.” GAO, Report to the Chairman and Ranking Member, Committee on VA, U.S. Senate, July 2002 View Report

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The 2 previous VBA Under Secs for Benefits acknowledged it

• "VBA regional directors traditionally had a great deal of autonomy in running their offices, something Joe Thompson, (former Under Secretary for Benefits), was loath to change."
• "Even more important to Admiral Daniel Cooper, Under Secretary for Benefits 'If there is one word … we mention frequently in the [task force] report and I mention it ad nauseam in any talk I give - it's accountability,'"
• "Cooper says. '… there was not sufficient accountability everywhere. I was convinced that when headquarters said 'everybody do this,' 57 different offices set up the polling machine and they all voted.'"
• "Veterans organizations support Cooper's push for accountability. 'The regional office directors were very autonomous in the past,' says John McNeil, deputy director of the National Veterans Service at the Veterans of Foreign Wars." View Document

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The 2 previous VBA Under Secs for Benefits
acknowledged it (cont)

• "'Under [Thompson] and really even before [him], there really was no ramification for poor performance,' says Michael Walcoff, associate deputy undersecretary for operations. 'If you were a director and you ran a poor station, for the most part nothing ever happened to you.'" Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003

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#2 - Production quotas trump quality and service

• "I might quote Supreme Court Justice Brandeis who once stated: 'Every figure ...we have set down with delusive exactness is speculative.'" The Under Secretary for Benefits, Admiral Daniel Cooper, Congressional Testimony, June 6, 2002
• "'I never took a satisfaction muster on my ship, so I never saw one of these before,' Cooper says. Customer and employee surveys still are performed, but directors are not held accountable for the outcomes. These measures have been 'de-emphasized,' according to Walcoff." Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003
• "The current emphasis is 'let's get the work out the door,' says Oakland Regional Director Stout." Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003
• "The almost exclusive emphasis on productivity concerns Thompson, who contends that VBA sacrificed quality and service in its past attempts to hit the numbers." Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003

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#2 - Production quotas trump quality and service (cont)

• "Joe (former Under Secretary for Benefits) used to say, 'Give the VBA a number, and they'll hit the number,' and that was because they would find ways to cheat,' Walcoff says. 'Joe made it very clear when he first came on that if there was one thing he was going to accomplish here, he was going to bring some integrity to the organization.'"
• "… Ross, Director of the Cleveland Regional Office. '… Cooper has given us five to six areas to look at. That to me is what accountability means, when he tells me, 'Look, you've got to hit those marks.''" Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003
• "VBA is under tremendous pressure to process claims and reduce the growing backlog. Without an effective and reliable quality assurance program, VBA leadership cannot adequately monitor performance to make necessary program improvements and ensure veterans receive accurate and consistent ratings." Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations Belinda J. Finn, Congressional Testimony, March 24, 2010

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#3 - The VBA cannot manage the three-headed monster

• The VBA uses a three digit code called end products to determine the types of claims pending.
• The VBA currently has 13 different end products they use to determine inventory. It is further defined as rating and non rating end products. There are 8 rating end products and 5 non rating end products. Then, there are appeals.
• The non-rating end products are claims for death pension for surviving spouses and children, adding of additional benefits for dependents of veterans who are 30% or more service connected, apportionment benefits for dependents of service connected veterans, burial benefits, due process, administrative decisions for home loans and hospital treatment, legislative increases for veterans that the system did not generate automatically, and a number of other benefit issues.
• The Compensation and Pension Service is a three-headed monster and attention is only paid to rating end products while the non-rating end products and appeals just grow and grow. View Document

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#4 - The VBA continues to use an assembly line approach

• "Nappi, Thompson's former deputy, agrees. 'If you want government people to be clerks, then break up the process and make it an assembly line, and you will hire people who are just myopically concerned about their little focus,' Nappi says. 'If you want to attract people who are intelligent, who can use ingenuity, who can take pride in a product, then you don't want an assembly line.'" Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003
• "Thompson regards case management as his most important innovation. He says the close relationship between worker and veteran fostered by case management allowed workers to 'see service to veterans as a noble experience, to make a difference in the lives of the people who sacrificed for this country.' Even some who disagree with other parts of Thompson's program concur with him on this point." Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003

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#4 - The VBA continues to use an assembly line approach
(cont)

• "'I would hope we go back to case management. There is a certain amount of goodwill that is generated by that. It is the care and compassion element,' says Ross (Director of the Cleveland Regional Office). 'We needed to put out a fire. Our backlog was so big. The timeliness was so poor. Something needed to be done immediately. Positive results are being generated. I would not want to return to the teams, but customer satisfaction and customer service, that's what we're about.'" Reversing Reinvention, Government Executive, June 15, 2003

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#5 - The lack of quality training for VBA managers and employees

• "'Training is central to every quality organization. ... VBA is committed to ensuring all employees have the opportunity to learn and develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to be successful in their current roles and to prepare them for positions of increasing responsibility and leadership. …Newly hired veterans service representatives (VSRs) receive a comprehensive and consistent foundation in claims processing principles through a national centralized training program called "Challenge.' After this initial centralized training, employees follow a national standardized training curriculum at their home regional offices. This 23-week curriculum …. A consistent, nationally developed training program also is provided to newly appointed Rating VSRs ..." Mr. Michael Walcoff Associate Under Secretary of Field Operations, Congressional Testimony, September 13, 2006

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#5 - The lack of quality training for VBA managers and employees
(cont)

• "AFGE in Cleveland says, 'Employees are being placed on case production shortly after the hiring process, and the only training many specialists receive...only covers the basics...'" Gov. Union Claims VA's Disability Benefits Employees Not Properly Trained, February 24, 2009, Posted VAWatchdog.com
• “'There was little to no continuity between centralized training and regional office training. There were applications taught in centralized training that either was not applicable to regional office procedures or were simply changed altogether. When one returns from central training, you have to deprogram what you have learned there and reprogram what the regional office does. It can be very confusing for one to learn.'” Newly Trained Veterans Service Representative, March 2010

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#6 - After 7 years of the CPI, Regional Offices still have autonomy

• "The Associate Deputy of Field Operations Michael Walcoff testified before Congress on September 12, 2006 that 'All VSRs and RVSRs are subject to national performance standards that are reviewed periodically and amended as necessary in response to changes in workload and claims processing procedures…'"
• "The CPI Task Team Report, November 30, 2001, pg 25, states, 'The most effective way to measure performance is to ensure that effective measurement systems are in place, and to be effective, those systems must be measuring the same things,'"
• Despite the testimony before Congress and the CPI Task Team Report, a review of the current RVSR performance standards shows that each RO is allowed to set their own performance standards   View Spreadsheet

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#7 - Failure is still rewarded

• Even though the VBA fails to deliver timely and accurate benefits to veterans, the VBA Central Office staff and field Directors shared $3,444,073 dollars in bonuses over the past 5 years
• The top VBA official and his spouse received $141,785 in bonuses over the last 5 years
• One Director received a Presidential Meritorious Award of $30,400 in FY 2006; during this period, his RO paid over 1/2 millon dollars to employees in 2 EEO judgements and a civil settlement
• Another Director received a bonus of $18,000 in 2009 and $33,060 Meritorious Presidential award in 2010 despite the fact that the VA Office of IG reported that his RO failed inspection in 6 of 14 operational areas   View Spreadsheet

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Volunteer to setup a town hall meeting in your community to:

• Educate veterans, survivors, family and friends on the claims process
• Entertain questions about the claims process
• Reach veterans who do not have access to the Internet
• Discuss what can be done to hold the Regional Office Accountable

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