Thank you Mr. Chairman,

And welcome everyone, to this hearing on the Department of Veterans Affairs STAR program.

STAR is an acronym for Systematic Technical Accuracy Review, which is VA’s program for quality assurance.

Throughout my tenure on this Committee, my fellow members and I have called for stronger accountability within the VA claims system.

For too long, the primary focus has been on production and this has led to an error rate that is unacceptable.

I believe that the VA’s greatest challenge, the claims backlog, is largely attributable to hasty decisions made without proper regard for accuracy.

The ramifications of this approach can be seen throughout the entire system.

Therefore, VA employee performance awards cannot be based entirely on production, there must also be a valid measure of quality.

Under the STAR program, a statistically valid sample of rating decisions from various regional offices is reviewed for accuracy. 

While this method may be useful from a macro perspective, it is not sufficient for ensuring individual accountability.

VA must be able to identify employees in need of individualized remedial training.

Without this essential component of the quality assurance process, VA will have perpetual problems in its claims system.

I also have other concerns based on the written statements of today’s participants.

There seems to be some contradiction as to whether brokered claims are excluded from STAR review, or whether STAR requires follow-up to ensure that VA Regional Offices provide corrective action or remedial training.

Perhaps these were former deficiencies that have since been corrected.

I am encouraged by GAO’s report that VA has made a number of improvements, but I also agree that challenges remain.

In the 110th Congress this committee passed a provision that was included in the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2008 that required VA to conduct a study on the effectiveness of the current employee work-credit system.

I believe the upcoming report, along with the testimony that we will hear today, will provide valuable feedback for the Department to improve its quality assurance and accountability program.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today, and I thank you all for your participation

Thank you, I yield back.