The 2022 law expanded access to VA health care and disability benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances requiring the VBA to add some 1,700 claims processing staff. Image: Phil Pasquini/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffSeparate reports from the VA’s inspector general have found that the Veterans Benefits Administration generally met its goals for staffing up to process new claims after passage of the PACT Act, but that there are errors in benefits awards affecting the amounts paid.
That 2022 law expanded access to VA health care and disability benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances requiring the VBA to add some 1,700 claims processing staff, using direct hire authority to speed the process.
The VBA met its 80-day time to hire goal for about 85 percent, the IG found, although adding that it met the 26-day on-boarding metric in only 8 percent. Further, 2 percent received an official job offer before their final screening results were available, which “puts VBA at risk of hiring someone who may not be suitable for federal service.”
Attrition of claims processors held about steady at about 6 percent over 2022-2023, it added, but the median tenure of those who left was about 1 year. “Since claims processors’ expertise and proficiency increase over their tenure, VBA could be losing claims processors just when they are considered proficient in handling veterans’ claims. As a result, VBA may not recoup the considerable resources invested in recruiting, hiring, and training staff for this critical position,” it said.
The second report on the VBA meanwhile said that the PACT Act “complicated the already difficult process for determining the date disability benefit payments begin” by adding locations, dates, and conditions presumed to be associated with certain types of exposures during military service, as well as lowering some eligibility requirements.
In a review of sample claims decisions, auditors found incorrect effective dates in 24 percent, in most cases resulting in overpayments; in others they were unable to determine a monetary impact. Meanwhile, they found other cases “when claims processors decided claims before taking all the necessary steps, such as gathering additional evidence, to determine whether a more advantageous effective date applied. As a result, some veterans did not receive their correct benefit payments.”
The report said that the VBA “did not effectively prepare” processors to handle PACT Act claims because it did not provide detailed guidance about effective dates and did not initially provide staff with necessary training. The VBA since has taken steps that the IG considers responsive to those issues, it said, although they came too late to assess their effectiveness.
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