A newly implemented national information system — RBA 2000 —
could enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to make more
consistent disability compensation decisions, the Government
Accountability Office has said.
It designated VA’s disability program in 2003, along with
other federal disability programs, as “high-risk,” and said
that VA, “still does not systematically assess
decision-making consistency among the 57 regional offices.”
The department will dole out about $25 billion to 2.7 million
veterans in fiscal 2005, but GAO said the data in VA’s
benefits delivery network fail to provide a useful picture
of decision-making consistency among regional offices.
VA officials are hopeful that RBA 2000 will reliably collect
and aggregate denial rates and average disability ratings
for specific impairments, but said they would still need
several years of data to pinpoint “impairment-specific
inconsistencies,” according to GAO-05-99.
It said if the system works, VA could begin using it to
assess the extent and causes of inconsistencies and could
take steps to reduce problematic variations among regional
offices to make sure the tremendous sums of money channeled
through them are correct.
