VA Regional Office AFGE LOCAL 520 PO BOX 1778 COLUMBIA, SC 29202 July 28, 2013 Chairmen, Ranking Members,

Members of the US House and Senate Committees of Veterans Affairs Dear Committee Members: Local 520, the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit of VARO Columbia, SC, wants to respond to an email dated July 26, 2013 received from a VA local senior management official regarding the letter that was sent to the Committees on July 21, 2013. When our commitment to Veterans and employees, integrity, and advocacy for Veterans and employees are placed at issue, we are compelled to respond. The email accuses Local 520 of the following: "... you continue to try and discredit our organization,..." "The way in which you've intentionally misled those in receipt of this letter is of significant concern, especially given the fact that I noted that the Rating Bundle never included the 190's yet in this letter you are adding them to the rating bundle to imply that VBA is not making the progress we claim we are or don't care about widows." "Your letter incorrectly adds the 190s to the Rating Bundle to give the perception that VBA is hiding work/doesn't care about widows." "VBA resources will be wasted explaining/responding to inquiries on these false and uninformed claims at best, at worst, funding for or support of critical initiatives will suffer. Veterans and employees will be harmed, ..."

Our letter clearly stated that the EP 190 was eliminated from the Monday Morning Workload Report (MMWR) when the Compensation and Pension Entitlement category was removed from the MMWR and that it should be included in the Compensation and Pension Rating Bundle. The three digit code, called end products (EP), must be understood if VBA's workload is to be correctly analyzed. Therefore, I would like to explain the Pension EP's 180, 120, and 190. The 180s and 120s are included in the Compensation and Pension Rating Bundle, but not the 190s. > EP 180s are Veterans' claims for pension. If the veteran is 65 years old or receiving disability Social Security, there is no rating decision. If they are claiming housebound or aid & attendance benefits and not in an approved Medicare Nursing Home a rating decision will be needed. Furthermore, if the veteran is filing an initial dual claim for compensation and pension, the pension

claim will not appear on any report. The claim will be reported under an initial compensation claim - EPs 010 or 110. EP 010 is an initial compensation claim of eight contentions or more and EP 110 is less than eight. > EP 190s are Survivors' claim for pension. If the survivor is claiming housebound or aid & attendance benefits and not in an approved Medicare Nursing Home a rating decision is needed. > EP 120s are reopened pension claims for both Veterans and Survivors. Again, if not administratively granted as previously mentioned a rating decision is needed. Therefore, the question posed in our previous letter was why are the 190s not included in the Rating Bundle, since the Compensation and Pension category was removed from the MMWR. Moreover, the pension claims are paperless and don't required Service Treatment Records. The only requirements for deciding these claims are verified Wartime service, meeting the income requirement, and medical evidence if a rating decision is needed. However, they are backlogged. The MMWR website states, "VA's goal is to eliminate the backlog of compensation claims pending for more than 125 days by the end of 2015." If this is the case, why include any pension claim in the Rating Bundle. Abraham Lincoln said, "To Care For Him Who Shall Have Borne The Battle AND For His Widow & His Orphan." Local 520 does not have to discredit our organization because VBA does a good job of doing that themselves. The Congressional hearings, IG and GAO reports and media provide enough proof of that. Unfortunately for Veterans, it appears no one is paying attention to them. The MMWR now includes this statement, "Please note: Effective July 15th, 2013, VBA no longer reports the Entitlement Bundle on the Monday Morning Workload Reports. This decision was made in response to stakeholder concerns that the number misrepresented VBA's progress towards the strategic 2015 goals. The Rating Bundle total has been and remains the standard VBA measure of the backlog and inventory." Why are survivors not included in this goal? If this was effective July 15, 2013, why was the Entitlement Bundle removed from the June 28, 2013 MMWR? The MMWR website also includes, "In response, VA is implementing a comprehensive Transformation plana series of people, process and technology initiativesto increase productivity and accuracy of disability claims processing. Once the Transformation is fully implemented, VA expects to systematically reduce the backlog and reach its 2015 goal." Visit it and click on the "Transformation Plan". It will speak for itself.

> The GAO testified before the Senate VA Committee and said, ""We have noted that VA's ongoing efforts should be driven by a robust, comprehensive plan; however when we reviewed'VB A's plan documents, we found that they fell short of established criteria for sound planning. Specifically, VBA provided us with several documents, including a PowerPoint presentation and a matrix that provided a high-level overview of over 40 initiatives, but, at the time of our review, could not provide us with a robust plan that tied together the group of initiatives, their inter-relationships, and subsequent impact on claims and appeals processing times." GAO-13-453T, Mar 13, 2013 Again, we report and you decide if our information is "false and uninformed claims at best."
C&P RATING BUNDLE (RB)

4/13/2013 71,802 234,892 10,407 480,512 1,619 422 2,423 287 16,440 19,392 13,831

6/29/2013 7/20/2013 DIFF 4-13/7-20 62,758 210,397 7,609 458,068 1,822 1,049 640 206 19,349 19,975 14,992 61,872 205,635 8,247 458,945 1,902 1,259 444 184 20,475 19,385 14,863 -9,930 -29,257 -2,160 -21,567 283 837 -1,979 -103 4,035 -7 1,032 -58,816 -4,012 -62,828

010 110 140 020 320 681 405 409 310 120 180

852,027
*190
**930
*Not Included in the C&P RB

796,865
47,047 843,912 29,227

793,211
45,675 8 3 8 , 8 8 6 29,455

49,687 901,714 28,920

** See Explanation below

**Here are the hidden C&P RB claims. The majority of EP 930 compensation claims were rated prematurely. The evidence was either at VA at the time of the decision or an issue was missed on a previous decision. The MMWR lists these as review, including quality assurance. Ask the VBA to identify how many 930s are in the category previously mentioned? Furthermore, ask the VBA to identify how many Agent Orange claims are in the FAST track system and have not been counted in the MMWR? How many C&P RB claims are languishing in the VARO Intake Processing Centers that have not been established in the system? Only 50% of them get established within the 7 days requirement. Moreover, the average control time to establish them is over 18 days. The informal Fully Developed Claims (FDC) already submitted by the Veterans will soon become formal. Now, let's examine the claims over 125 days since the new initiative was implemented.

C&PRB>125 010 110 140 020 320 681 405 409 310 120 180 TOTAL RB>1 25 *190 **930

4/13/2013 7/20/2013 52,281 41,754 143,709 171,919 4,019 1,540 303,256 337,278 656 791 120 113 437 2,419 150 244 8,762 8,450 8,065 8,440 6,053 4,730 590,174 515,012 32,713 28,542 622,887 543,554 25,572 25,718

DIFF -10,527 -28,210 -2,479 -34,022 135 7 -1,982 -94 312 375 1,323 -75,162 -4,171 -79,333

4/13/2013 7/20/2013
72.8% 73.2% 38.6% 70.2% 40.5% 26.8% 99.8% 85.0% 51.4% 41.6% 34.2% 69.3% 65.8% 88.9% 67.5% 69.9% 18.7% 66.1% 41.6% 9.5% 98.4% 81.5% 39.5% 43.9% 39.5% 64.9% 62.2% 86.8%

DIFF -5.33% -3.31% -19.94% -4.11% 1.07% -17.25% -1.41% -3.50% -11.86% 2.31% 5.30% -4.4% -3.65% -2.10%

This is the progress the VBA has made with all hands on deck, 20 hours of mandatory overtime, the new transformation (people, process, and technology) initiatives, VBMS at all VAROs, and appeals and other claims being placed on hold. Remember, Mr. Thomas Murphy's testimony on June 12, 2012 at the US Senate VA Committee hearing. He stated that the C&P RB's backlog was reduced by 74,000 claims and the overall C&P RB's inventory by 44,000. According to the latest MMWR (July 20, 2013), the C&P RB's backlog has been reduced by 75,162 and the overall C&P RB's inventory by 58,816. Also remember that these numbers includes the provisional ratings which will be coming back sometime in the next 12 months. How many? Let's go back to the VA Claims Processing Task Force Report to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs dated October 2001 which states, "VBA's workload is normally discussed in terms of the number of pending claims or the backlog in VBA Regional Offices. Pending claims are generally assumed to be original and reopened claims for disability compensation. However, this shorthand description of the workload over-simplifies what is, in reality, a heterogeneous that consumes direct labor hours of the C&P workforce. To complicate matters further, these end products do not account for all categories of work required in the Regional Offices...," Here are appeals and other claims for Veterans and Survivors' claims. 4/13/2013 7/20/2013 250,973 | 252,531 |

Appeals Other Claims

1,558

130

189,305

201,507

12,202

290 600 *400 **137 **150 **297 **607 ***160 ***165 Other Claims Totals Appeal and Other Claims Totals

81,971 44,431 24,861 10,214 54,008 17,736 18,972 60,850 14,631 441,498 692,471

87,846 50,414 38,195 9,137 45,511 15,331 20,178 49,803 14,609 468,119 720,650

5,875 5,983 13,334 -1,077 -8,497 -2,405 1,206 -11,047 -22 28,179

Notes: The MMWR for 7-20-13 indicates the Appeals total is as of May 11,2013. * Sharp increase - EP 400 was for correspondence, but began to be associated with Provisional ratings after the new initiative was implemented. This is the reason it's included here. ** Pension Claims ***Death Claims (Pension, Dependency Indemnity Compensation EP 140, and Death Claims) are processed by the Pension Maintenance Centers (PMC). An explanation of all the three digits EPs codes can be found in M21-4, Appendix C. The HVAC Press Release Facebook poll asked the question, "Where is the Accountability at VA?" It states "A pattern of heartbreaking benefits backlogs, veteran deaths and other patient-safety issues has cast a dark shadow over the Department of Veterans Affairs." It also gives some examples. It ended with these words, "In light of these outrageous developments, we are inviting you to take our new Facebook poll, which asks a simple question: Do you think the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing enough to hold poorly performing employees accountable?" The examples that were given portrayed senior executives. However, the poll question is about accountability of poorly performing employees, not senior executives. Local 520 has always raised the issue of VARO's autonomy and the lack of accountability of Senior Executives at the VBA. However, this should not be news to anyone. Here is an excerpt from 2001:

> "The Task Force was surprised by the apparent lack of uniformity in interpreting directives, compliance and ultimate accountability at the vast majority of the Regional Office.... VBA's Central Office leadership gives the impression of neither demanding adherence to nor of being completely aware of the actual compliance to directives at the individual Regional Office level." VA Claims Processing Task Force Report, October 2001,pgl6 The four pillars of an organization (leadership, process, people system, and workplace culture) have been allowed to crumple at VBA and the VARO Columbia epitomizes it. A VA claims 2003 study puts it this way. > "The most effective regional offices have a/clear integration of certain key practices into an overall philosophy of continuous improvement. These specific practices are: A highly competent and involved management team that includes the Office of the Director, the Veteran Service Center Manager, and every supervisory position in the Veteran Service Center (VSC). In the context of this study, these words have very specific meaning. The term "competent" means managers understand claims processing at a very detailed level. Each person, from the Director to the Assistant Coaches, understands the details of claims processing and how the sum of the parts make up the whole. > While there is an appreciation for tools, reports, and data, these are not the primary drivers of the process. Rather, they are validation that the process is working. There is a sense that without this understanding of process, tools are of little value. To be sure, not every director or assistant director must have followed a career path through the claims processing arena. However, successful engagement by senior leadership simply cannot take place without clearly "understanding the business." All of the high performing stations visited during the study exhibit this characteristic. > The term "involved" means each manager works to support a culture of continuous improvement. Initiatives to improve, "stretch", recognize, and reward performance comes from all levels. The office is considered as having these two elements of management competency and involvement only when the employees themselves validate it." VBA Cycle Time Study, June 2003 However, there has been no voice for the employees who do this work. It is time for employee's voices to be heard and the truth be told. We know what is happening in these VA Regional Offices and the solution is simple - a complete analysis of each regional office is needed. Identify the problems and fix them. This is called accountability and leadership. Line employees are tired of the "hand" being pointed at them when they are given poor leadership, inadequate training, broken processes and systems and are saddled with an unmanageable workload.
;'

Even saddled with these obstacles, employees work hard to ensure the VBA delivers the best quality of service to the nation's veterans. However, we know that this cannot happen unless employees are provided with the leadership, processes, people systems, and workplace culture that are conducive to providing timely and accurate benefits to Veterans and their survivors. Moreover, when employees are required to meet a certain production standard, but don't have enough work to meet them given the massive workload that exists, there is a major senior leadership/accountability problem at all levels. The Statute: 7101. Findings and purpose states, " (a) The Congress finds that(1) experience in both private and public employment indicates that the statutory protection of the right of employees to organize, bargain collectively, and participate through labor organizations of their own choosing in decisions which affect them (A) safeguards the public interest, (B) contributes to the effective conduct of public business, and (C) facilitates and encourages the amicable settlements of disputes between employees and their employers involving conditions of employment; and (2) the public interest demands the highest standards of employee performance and the continued development and implementation of modern and progressive work practices to facilitate and improve employee performance and the efficient accomplishment of the operations of the Government. Therefore, labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest. (b) It is the purpose of this chapter to prescribe certain rights and obligations of the employees of the Federal Government and to establish procedures which are designed to meet the special requirements and needs of the Government. The provisions of this chapter should be interpreted in a manner consistent with the requirement of an effective and efficient Government." Local 520 has for the past 7 years tried to engage with the VBA chain of command on various issues to no avail. Now, we turn to the Committees in an attempt to restore a VBA that all Veterans and their survivors will have confidence in that all claims for benefits will be given the care and attention the claimants have earned and fulfill the promise of Abraham Lincoln - "To Care For Him Who Shall Have Borne The Battle AND For His Widow & his Orphan." Lastly, we take extreme care to provide credible and informed information to stakeholders which is drawn from a deep well of Congressional hearings, the annals of VBA reports and studies, IG and GAO reports, credible media sources, employees, and my 20 years of military service to my Country, 17 years of claims processing experience serving Veterans, and eight years of representing and serving employees.

Furthermore, we also make every effort to practice not preach the VA Core Values - Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, Excellence (ICARE).

kobihson
President (803) 647-2385 (Ofc) (803) 239-7682 (Cell) rbnsnrnld@yahoo.com wwvy. seniorvsr. com

l1 V V

Employees Putting Veterans 1st

CF: President Obama VA Secretary Shinseki NY Times Center for Investigative Reporting The Washington Examiner VA Watchdog

"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." - Winston Churchill

Compensation and Pension Rating Bundle

(Highlighted in Orange Below. Represents the 8 End Product Claim Codes + Agent Orange Claims VA Uses to Define the 125 Day and 98% Accuracy Targets) As of July 20, 2013

* Pending

# Pending

793,211

515,012

64.9%

Compensation
EP

# Pending 740,394

Entitlement (Original and Supplemental) Original Entitlement - Veterans1 Initial entitlement decisions for Voc Rehab Initial entitlement for service-connected disability (=>8) Initial entitlement for service-connected disability (<=7)

# Pending % Over 125 Over 125 493,306 66.6%

959 41,754 143,709

095 010 110

1,187 61,872 205,635

80.8% 67.5% 69.9%

Original Entitlement - Survivors2 1,540 18.7% 8,247 Initial claims from surviving spouses, children or parents 140 538 423 78.6% Initial claims from children Veterans with Spina bifida and/or birth defects 410 Supplemental Entitlement 303,256 66.1% 458,945 Increased evaluation and/or additional claimed conditions 020 41.6% 1,902 791 Increased entitlement due to hospitalization or surgery 320 167 92.3% 181 Spina bifida and/or birth defects reconsideration 420 120 9.5% 1,259 Reopened or new Agent Orange claims prior to 8/30/1 0 681 0 0.0% Nehmer review cases based upon new Agent Orange presumptives 687 0 98.4% 444 437 Reopened or new Agent Orange claims After 9/01/10 405 150 81.5% 184 Agent Orange claims where an interim decision was provided 409 3 Agent Orange presumptives 1 First claim filed by a Veteran for benefits (including Voc Rehab memo ratings) based upon the effects of disabilities, diseases, or injuries incurred or aggravated during active military service.
2

First claim received from surviving spouses, dependent children and dependent parents based upon the Veteran's death due to service-related causes. As of 1 1/1/10 Agent Orange presumptives include EP 681 , EP 687 and EP 405. As of 12/13/2010 the Agent Orange presumptives claim category include EP 409

EP

# Pending 360,587 201,507 75 248 87,846 22 20,475 50,414

Award Adjustments Dependency Survivor restored entitlement Hospitalization adjustment (non-rating) Misc determinations Spina bifida and/or birth defects adjustments Future examination for disabilities Due process

130 133 135 290 450 310 600

# Pending % Over 125 Over 125 248,316 68.9% 147,701 73.3% 25 33.3% 73.4% 182 66,214 75.4% 14 63.6% 8,762 42.8% 25,418 50.4%

Involves the modification of benefits based upon additional ancillary factors. Such activity usually occurs when a Veteran or survivor is currently entitled and receiving benefits, such as adjudication of dependency issues. # Pending 68,790 2,204 42 1,060 8,848 117 11,756 44,763 # Pending % Over 125 Over 125 51,293 74.6% 2,199 99.8% 26 61.9% 1,004 94.7% 7,678 86.8% 114 97.4% 8,003 68.1% 32,269 72.1%

EP

Program Reviews Income verification for unemployability Review of Hemodialysis related cases/conditions Review of Radiation related cases/conditions Review of Misc cases referred to central office Review of effective date related to herbicide exposure Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) and other reviews Social Security number verification

314 680 682 684 685 690 690 Group

These actions are not initiated by Veterans or survivors. All program integrity actions are initiated by internal VBA controls and mandates. These actions are classified as internal controls necessary to audit, review, and ensure that benefits and entitlements are proper and the intent of laws and regulations is being followed.
EP

# Pending 100,342 2,305 38,195 2,620 27,104 29,455 663

Other Pre-decisional hearings Correspondence Congressional correspondence Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests Review, including quality assurance Correction of errors

173 400 500 510 930 960

# Pending % Over 125 Over 125 58,422 58.2% 1,769 76.7% 15,446 40.4% 1,082 41.3% 13,985 51 .6% 25,572 868% 568 85.7%

Prepared by VBA Office of Performance Analysis & Integrity.

(Combination of workload received from Veterans, survivors and internal sources that do not have any effect [on entitlement, nor do they require any adjustment to monetary benefits.

Pension
EP

# Pending 79,923 19,385 14,863 45,675

Entitlement Increased entitlement and/or reconsideration Initial entitlement - Veteran Initial entitlement - Survivor

120 180 190

# Pending % Over 125 Over 125 43,035 53.8% 43.5% 8,440 40.7% 6,053 62.5% 28,542

Claims for benefits from Veterans and survivors that have never before applied for pensi 3n, as well as claims for aid and attendance, and housebound benefits. Some pension entitlement claims req jire a ratine decision.

EP
Award Adjustments Hospitalization adjustment (non-rating) Dependency Income adjustments Annual eligibility verification reporting (EVRs) Misc determinations Due process 135 . 137 150 155 297 607

# Pending 91,665 1,500 9,137 45,51 1 8 15,331 20,178

* Pending % Over 125 Over 125 50.0% 45,846 12.1% 181 50.3% 4,593 64.7% 29,445 100.0% 8 5,549 36.2% 30.1% 6,070

Involve the modification of benefits based upon income changes. # Pending 49,185 47,554 69 1,562 # Pending % Over 125 Over 125 99.3% 48,835 100.0% 47,550 88.4% 61 78.4% 1,224

EP

Program Reviews Income Verification Match Cost of Living Adjustments Non-entitlement reviews

154 696 697

These actions are not initiated by Veterans or survivors. All program review actions are i nitiated by internal VBA controls and mandates. These actions are classified as internal controls ne cessary to audit, review, and ensure that benefits and entitlements are proper and the intent of laws and regulations is being followed. # Pending % Over 125 Over 125 4,247 51.6% 2,352 52.9% 11 0.7% 1,884 82.1%

EP

# Pending 8,233 4,443

Other Correspondence Congressional correspondence Internal quality reviews

407 507 937

1,496
2,294

Combination of workload received from Veterans, survivors and internal sources that do not have a ly effect on entitlement, nor do they require any adjustment to monetary benefits.

Additional Compensation, Pension and Education Workload

| 160 49,803 Provides honor and assistance with the burial of Veterans through an enhanced burial benefit for those whose post-service death was due to or hastened by a service-connected disability. The burial program also provides assistence with the burial of Veterans entitled to pension; Veterans who die while under VA care; and Veterans entitled to compensation but who die from other causes.

Burial

EP

# Pending

Accrued

# Pending 14,645

Benefits not paid prior to the death of a Veteran or survivor based upon a pending claim at the time of death which is later granted. Appeals
Aso( May 11, 2013

# Pending 252.522

Appealed cases include compensation, pension, burial, and accrued benefits and decisions. Education Type # Pending 12,793 79,648 Chapter 33 is the new Post-9/11GI Bill. "All" represents all Education Benefit Programs Including Chapter 33 claims.

Prepared by VBA Office of Performance Analysis & Integrity.