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Today, Rep. Morgan Luttrell, (R-Texas.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, delivered the following opening remarks, as prepared, at the start of the Subcommittee’s Joint Oversight Hearing with the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization to examine potential improvements to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Benefits Claims Processing system to cut down wait times for claims decisions:

The joint Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs and Subcommittee on Technology Modernization hearing will come to order.

Good morning everyone.

Thank you, Chairman Rosendale, Ranking Member Pappas, and Ranking Member Cherfilus-McCormick for holding this hearing with me today.

We are here today to discuss the future of the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.) benefits claims processing.

Ten years ago, V.A. underwent its first claims modernization initiative when it transformed from a paper-based system to an electronic claims environment.

V.A. accomplished this through the development of the Veterans Benefits Management System or V.B.M.S.

This was an important step for V.A. to dig them out of the last claims backlog crisis.

Since V.B.M.S. was released, the private financial sector has continued to leverage the latest technology to provide the best experience for their customers and employees.

Unfortunately, V.B.A. has not kept pace with the private sector, resulting in unreliable and outdated systems.

Consequently, V.A. cannot handle the influx of claims due to the PACT Act.

V.A. estimates that the claims backlog could peak in April 2024 at over 730,000 claims.

This means veterans may have to wait months or years for a decision.

I know that V.A. employees are doing their best for our veterans and they are not satisfied with this level of customer service.

V.A. can do better.

I was encouraged by V.B.A.’s five-year Modernization Plan that we are here to discuss today.

As part of this plan, V.A. is piloting automation technology to help decrease the time to process a claim from months to days, and hopefully hours.

I understand that this technology may not be able to meaningfully reduce the backlog until two years from now.

However, some veterans don’t have two years to wait for this technology. 

Therefore, I’d like to learn more about the steps V.A. is taking over the next two years to develop this technology and whether or not V.A. can be more aggressive in its timeline.

I’d also like to discuss how V.A. is prioritizing where to invest its modernization efforts.

I hope V.A. is thoroughly considering the pain points in the claims process and how technology can help reduce the time and expense to complete these tasks.

I also would like V.A. to provide the assurance that it is investing in state-of-the art technology that is agile and able to modernize on a continual basis.

Simply put, veterans and employees deserve the best I.T. available in the technology industry now, and in the future.

This is how V.A. prevents a backlog and how veterans get decisions in hours instead of months.

Thank you to all our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to your insight and feedback on this issue.

With that, I yield to Ranking Member Pappas for his opening statement.