January 30, 2012 - The only way to achieve Veterans Administration Secretary Eric Shinseki's goal for 2015 -- that every disability compensation claim be processed within 125 days and with 98 percent accuracy -- is to shift to a paperless claims system. And that transformation has begun.That was the testimony Tuesday by VA's top claim processing official before the House veteran affairs subcommittee on disability assistance.
Tom Murphy, director of compensation service for the Veterans Benefits Administration, an agency within the Department of Veterans Affairs, acknowledged the claims backlog has grown in recent years.
Compensation and benefit claims pending at VA, as of Jan. 23, totaled 852,127 and 65 percent of them -- 557,460 -- had been filed by veterans more than 125 days ago, which means they are backlogged.
Over the past year, the VA processed almost a million claims, but more than 1.3 million new claims were filed, some seeking compensation for the first time but most seeking an upgrade to current disability ratings. The number of veterans filing claims annually has more than doubled since 2000. read more>>>
No comments:
Post a Comment