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Testimony of the Honorable Bill McCollum Before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing on the Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Claims Processing May 18, 2000
Mr. Chairman, Committee Members and Guests I am pleased to speak to you this morning about disability claims processing at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office at the Bay Pines complex in St. Petersburg, Florida. I recognize this issue is not unique to Florida’s veterans but I believe their concerns deserve to be heard and share with you some information I thought you would find helpful. I am here before you on their behalf. Before I continue, let me provide you some background about military veterans in the State of Florida.
As I speak to veterans, hold semi-annual meetings with veterans organizations representatives, and as mail to my district offices will attest, the backlog of claims at the VA Regional Office in St. Petersburg is at the top of every veteran’s list of concerns. According to figures provided to me at my semi-annual meeting in August 1999 with representatives of veterans service organizations such as: Air Force Association, American Legion, AMVETS, American Ex-POWs, Association of the U.S. Army, Central Florida Veterans Association, DAV, Marine Corps League, Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Association of Uniformed Services, City of Orlando Mayor’s Veterans Committee, Osceola County Veterans Council, Paralyzed Veterans of American, the Retired Officers Association, State Veterans Advisory Council, VFW and Vietnam Veterans of Central Florida, one of the top concerns of the veterans present was the backlog of 30,000 claims at the VA Regional Office. Concerned that such a high number of claims were in question, I visited the Regional Office on September 7, 1999 to determine for myself the extent of the problem. I met with Mr. Rupert F. "Sandy" Bowron, Acting Director for the VA Regional Office, and Barbara Harker, the Veterans Service Center Manager. At that time, according to them, there had been a claims backlog at the Regional Office of about 28,250 claims in May 1999, that had dropped to about 26,250 claims by the time of my visit. The ideal number of claims backlog for them is 21,000, which they hoped to reach within a couple of years. They attributed the backlog to three factors: (1) continued training of inexperienced ratings specialists–30% of the ratings specialists had less than a year’s experience at that time; (2) the September 1998 move to the Regional Office’s current location coupled with the creation and implementation of 20 case management teams to work claims; and (3) the impact of a new telephone system allowing 80% more calls to go through, causing employees to spend more time answering veterans’ questions, taking more time away from claims adjudication. The two also indicated there was a software problem that contributed to delays. We discussed possible solutions such as agency SWAT teams being sent in to assist them with the backlog. They acknowledged they previously had SWAT teams come in to help with the backlog. But this is strictly on an ad hoc basis. There is no VA central office system for putting together a specialty team to go to a regional office and stay however long is necessary to work off a backlog or other problem. Even if the backlog was cleared up, they expressed concerns about anticipated retirements of large numbers of experienced employees starting in the next three to five years that would deprive them of knowledgeable individuals who can process claims in a thorough and timely manner, and assist less experienced employees. A key aspect of the backlog that was not fully addressed during that meeting is the time it takes the St. Petersburg Region Office to adjudicate a disability claim. Currently, a veteran has to wait 11 to 16 months for a claims decision. Large numbers of claims are taking the entire 16-month period and longer. I realize that delays are inevitable but veterans should not have to wait this long. Outcomes of my September 1999 meeting include my request of a General Accounting Office (GAO) study of the backlog and my co-sponsorship of H.R. 3193. I also wrote to the Regional Office in March 2000, expressing my concern about the possibility that the July 14, 1999, U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans decision that the veteran has the "burden" of submitting evidence to show his claim is "well-grounded" has allowed the Regional Office to deny large numbers of claims, thereby reducing their backlog, but in the end, not serving veterans. I have not received a response to my correspondence. In closing, I believe the VA’s disability claims processing system is broken and needs to be overhauled. I know what I’m saying is not a surprise to any of you since you have championed veterans’ concerns for years. But the situation in Florida is much worse than in the past and simply can not be tolerated. I urge the Committee to take action immediately to remedy this situation and pledge to work with you to seek an equitable solution - Florida’s veterans and our nation’s veterans deserve nothing less. Thank you. Back to Witness List |