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VA disability evaluations are taking even longer
By Karen Jowers
[email protected]
A new system designed to speed up disability evaluations for wounded and injured service members is proving less speedy than envisioned in recent months, according to government auditors. The timeliness of evaluations in the new system — a collaboration between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments — has wors*ened significantly since August, said Daniel Bertoni, director of education, workforce and income security issues for the Govern*ment Accountability Office.
Bertoni, who testified at a May 4 hearing of the House Over*sight and Government Reform Committee’s national security panel, said active-duty cases are taking an average of 394 days to go from initial referral to receipt of VA benefits — 99 days longer than the 295-day goal that was general*ly being met in February 2010.
Averages range from 367 days for the Army to 455 days for the Marine Corps, Bertoni said, not*ing that estimated average pro*cessing time under the much*criticized legacy system, now being phased out, is 540 days.
The biggest challenge to faster processing, Bertoni said, is insuf*ficient staffing at sites that are using the new system.
Lawmakers reacted to the GAO assessment with dismay. “This is simply not acceptable,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. “We’re now well above the initial goal of 295 days. At some point, some*body’s got to say, wait a minute, these people are suffering now, not yesterday. When I see the numbers increasing … it seems like alarm bells should go off everywhere.” As of March, the integrated dis*ability evaluation system, known as IDES, has been deployed at 73 military treatment facilities and is handling about two-thirds of all disability evaluations, Bertoni said. DoD and VA began testing IDES in November 2007, merging their separate processes into a single exam conducted using VA stan*dards; consolidating the agency rating phases into one VA rating phase; and providing VA case man*agers for outreach and nonclinical case management and to explain VA results to service members.
Lynn Simpson, chief of staff to Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readi*ness, said top DoD and VA officials are exploring options to shorten the overall length of the disability evaluation process.
“I regret I was not aware the average time had gotten that high,” she told lawmakers after Bertoni had testified.
“You can understand why we’re all so infuriated,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “We’re going backwards at this point.” When pressed for a timeline on when the problems would be fixed, John Medve, VA’s executive director of VA/DoD Collaboration Service, could not provide one.
He said VA is taking a hard look at ensuring that sites using the new system have the required amount of medical and other per*sonnel, and other resources.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki “considers this a leadership issue,” Medve said.
VA disability evaluations are taking even longer
By Karen Jowers
[email protected]
A new system designed to speed up disability evaluations for wounded and injured service members is proving less speedy than envisioned in recent months, according to government auditors. The timeliness of evaluations in the new system — a collaboration between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments — has wors*ened significantly since August, said Daniel Bertoni, director of education, workforce and income security issues for the Govern*ment Accountability Office.
Bertoni, who testified at a May 4 hearing of the House Over*sight and Government Reform Committee’s national security panel, said active-duty cases are taking an average of 394 days to go from initial referral to receipt of VA benefits — 99 days longer than the 295-day goal that was general*ly being met in February 2010.
Averages range from 367 days for the Army to 455 days for the Marine Corps, Bertoni said, not*ing that estimated average pro*cessing time under the much*criticized legacy system, now being phased out, is 540 days.
The biggest challenge to faster processing, Bertoni said, is insuf*ficient staffing at sites that are using the new system.
Lawmakers reacted to the GAO assessment with dismay. “This is simply not acceptable,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. “We’re now well above the initial goal of 295 days. At some point, some*body’s got to say, wait a minute, these people are suffering now, not yesterday. When I see the numbers increasing … it seems like alarm bells should go off everywhere.” As of March, the integrated dis*ability evaluation system, known as IDES, has been deployed at 73 military treatment facilities and is handling about two-thirds of all disability evaluations, Bertoni said. DoD and VA began testing IDES in November 2007, merging their separate processes into a single exam conducted using VA stan*dards; consolidating the agency rating phases into one VA rating phase; and providing VA case man*agers for outreach and nonclinical case management and to explain VA results to service members.
Lynn Simpson, chief of staff to Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readi*ness, said top DoD and VA officials are exploring options to shorten the overall length of the disability evaluation process.
“I regret I was not aware the average time had gotten that high,” she told lawmakers after Bertoni had testified.
“You can understand why we’re all so infuriated,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “We’re going backwards at this point.” When pressed for a timeline on when the problems would be fixed, John Medve, VA’s executive director of VA/DoD Collaboration Service, could not provide one.
He said VA is taking a hard look at ensuring that sites using the new system have the required amount of medical and other per*sonnel, and other resources.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki “considers this a leadership issue,” Medve said.
