The Department of Veterans Affairs has reached a milestone in its disability claims transformation process by digitizing over 30 percent of its current claims inventory.
Under the department’s new Veterans Claims Intake Program new paper claims are recorded in VA’s electronic claims processing system, the Veterans Benefits Management System, and shipped to one of three document conversion locations to be scanned and converted into digital images.
The images are keyword searchable and are placed into an electronic folder for use by the VA employees who work the veteran’s claim.
VA announced recently that a push it began in April involving mandatory overtime for some personnel, designed to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for veterans who have waited a year or more, has closed out 97 percent of the most delayed claims, over 65,000 of them.
