The PACT Act represented the largest extension of VA benefits in a generation. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe VA says it has processed some 1,150,000 claims under the “PACT Act”—out of some 1.3 million received under that 2022 law—aided by hiring and retention authorities it received under that same law.
That law, formally the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, represented the largest extension of VA benefits in a generation, Secretary Dennis McDonough told a House hearing, and “we continue to see steady increases in the number of toxic exposure related disability compensation claims processed.” Partly due to new claimants under that law, new enrollments for VA health care in 2023 topped 360,000, an increase of more than 73,000 above 2022, he said.
At the same time, he said, the Veterans Benefits Administration claims processing staff grew by more than half, with some 14,500 hired. The department has completed more than 1 million rating benefit claims to date in the fiscal year, an increase of about a third, and the disability compensation and pension claims backlog—claims pending for longer than 125 days—is down to 38 percent and is on track to be below 100,000 by the end of next year, he said.
The department’s largest component, the Veterans Health Administration, meanwhile grew by 7 percent, with the hiring of 62,000 employees in 2023 and “substantially improved retention rates,” he said. He cited the growth in VHA employees receiving recruitment, retention or relocation incentives from 12 to 18 percent, with rates even higher in rural areas and some “critical shortage” occupations such as medical technicians and police.
Also using authorities under the PACT Act, the department increased special salary rates by an average of 10 percent for some 41,000 health care workers and paid “critical skills incentives” averaging nearly $8,000 to some 28,000 employees in 37 occupations, he said.
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