Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Claim Backlog Due To Misplaced Priorities

March 11, 2011 - Representatives from the American Legion recently testified before Congress regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) proposed 2012 budget. According to the American Legion, the VA is not handling their claims backlog correctly, and it is leading to more problems. In order to relieve the burden, the VA must "treat the root" of the problem causing the enormous backlog, according to testimony.

Tim Tetz is the Legislative Director of the American Legion and his testimony focused on the VA's misplaced priorities when processing disability claims. Tetz believes the VA spends too much of their processing focus on how many claims they are processing when they should be spending much more focus on the accuracy of the disability claims they process.

Tetz went on to criticize the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), which is the VA's newest tool in their attempt to control their backlog. Tetz believes as long as the VA is focusing on numbers over accuracy, the only thing tools like the VBMS will accomplish is to "allow [the] VA to make the same old mistakes faster." The problem is the VA's mindset in how they approach the backlog, which controls their methods.

Tetz's testimony was designed to ensure the VA was granted enough money in their budget to not only use state-of-the-art technology, but to develop a system that follows proper accountability for both volume and accuracy as well as errors. The American Legions' recommendation for the VA's budget is far above the proposed budget, but they would settle for Congress granting the same amount of money as in the immediate past.