VA Regional Office AFGE LOCAL 520 PO BOX 1778 COLUMBIA, SC 29202 September 15, 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 address the topics in the media this week - appeals (quarter- million), accuracy, accountability, and the paperless system - VBMS that is producing results. First, we will begin with the excerpts from the article Veterans face another backlog as a quarter-million appeal disability claims, Washington Post, September 10, 2013. > As the Obama administration touts its recent progress hi reducing the enormous backlog of veterans' disability claims, a second backlog is rarely mentioned. > The 256,061 veterans appealing decisions represent an approximately 50 percent increase since President Obama took office. And more are coming. The Board of Veterans' Appeals, which makes the final administrative decisions on appeals, expects its number of pending cases to double over the next four years. > The appeals backlog has grown partly because VA has directed resources away from appeals and toward the high-profile disability backlog, according to interviews with VA workers and veterans' advocates. > Gerald Manar, deputy national veterans service director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said VA officials at regional offices often make a "calculated decision" to pull workers off appeals and redirect them to new claims. "Over the last three years or so, every time VA has made a push, they pull almost all of the employees out of appeals and into front-end work," said Manar, a former VA benefits manager. > VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki acknowledged in an interview last week that appeals do not get the same emphasis as new claims but said that will change as the backlog shrinks. "Yes, there is a need to focus on appeals," Shinseki said. "This is an elephant. You have to take bites one at a time." > A veteran who takes an appeal through all available administrative steps faces an average wait of 1,598 days, according to VA figures for 2012. If the veteran pursues the case outside VA to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, it takes an additional 321 days on average, according to court documents. The bottom line is appeals are being shoved to the back of the line and no one cares. As the focus is on National numbers, the real problems are at the individual regional office level. For example, the Columbia regional office according to the Monday Morning Workload Report

(MMWR) as of September 7, 2013 shows that there are 6995 appeals pending. On September 5, 2009, there were 31,80. However, there are only 4 Decision Review Officers (DRO) assigned to conduct formal hearings, informal conferences, DeNovo reviews, process decisions based on their reviews, and certify claims to the BVA. The number of appeals has doubled in the past four years. However, the number of DROs has remained static. The number of DROs assigned in 2001 was three. They are further tasked with holding hearings for paperless claims located at the Benefit Delivery at Discharge (BDD) sites and employee-veterans that have appeals pending, as well as holding hearings and conducting DeNovo reviews for the appeals located at the Pension Maintenance Centers (many new DROs in other regional offices have never even worked pension and DIG claims, but they are charged with being subject-matter experts in these cases (including rating and non-rating issues). It should also be pointed out that the Statement of Case (SOC) program used by the appeals team has not been updated for many years to include the current laws in existence and it has many flaws and errors causing a loss of work only to have to be redone wasting time and resources. Furthermore, the new Notice of Disagreement (NOD) form recently created by VBA to streamline the process has only made it more labor intensive by requiring DROs to call the Veteran if it is requested. How can this happen with the number of NODs submitted, the number of DROs assigned, and at times they get pulled to work regular rating inventory? Further, it is also a waste of human resources calling a Veteran today for clarification when the DRO can't work these newest appeals for one to two years or longer due to the backlog. We do realize all roads are paved with good intentions, but sometimes things just don't work out like they were intended! Moreover, the decisions (grants and remands) made by the Board of Veterans Affairs (BVA) lay dormant in regional offices. These decisions according to VA regulations are required to be handled expeditiously, but most are not. The Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs (DAMA) conducted a hearing on the issue on June 18, 2013 - Why Are Veterans Waiting Years on Appeal?: A Review of the Post-Decision Process for Appealed Veterans' Disability Benefits Claims. What were the results?

Considering the BVA's reversal rate of regional office's decisions, the appeal process is critical for Veterans and their survivors to receive the compensation they have earned by serving their Country in the Armed Forces. Moreover, how many of them die waiting on their decisions? What will it take to hold VA responsible for "all claims" submitted by Veterans and their survivors? Congress is giving the VA a license to disregard certain claims submitted by our Nation Veterans and their survivors. How can this be called an efficient and effective claims process? These excerpts from the article Legion challenges VA on claims accuracy Marine Times, September 12, 2013 only confirms why appeals are important and why accuracy numbers reported by VA is not reliable. > The nation's largest veterans' group is challenging the Veterans Affairs Department's record of accuracy in deciding benefits claims. > The 2.4 million member American Legion, the nation's largest veterans' group and a partner with VA in processing claims, says these accuracy claims are "inconsistent with our Regional Office Action Review visits nationwide, where errors are found routinely in over half of the cases reviewed," according a statement prepared by Vera Jones, director the Legion's veterans affairs and rehabilitation division. > The higher error rate was discovered in a review of cases chosen by VA employees, not by the Legion, Jones said. In cases where the Legion represents a veteran before the Board of Veterans' Appeals, the Legion "successfully argues that VA has either erred or failed to properly develop claims in over 70 percent of claims," she said. > Responding to the Legion's testimony, VA spokeswoman Victoria Dillon said "accuracy on claims decisions is now over 90 percent with 96.7 percent accuracy for medical issues within the claim." > "By stressing accuracy as a measure of equal quality with speed of adjudication, VA can promote a culture among employees to get the job done right the first time, thus reducing the backlog," Dellinger said. The number of appeals and BVA decisions - grants and remands only confirms that the VA accuracy numbers are not accurate. When the largest service organization's reviews accuracy numbers are sufficiently different from VA, it shows that accuracy rates reported by VA need an independent examination. The VA fox is watching the chicken coup. This has and continues to spell trouble for Veterans and their survivors. However, the greatest tragedy is that it is allowed to continue. The excerpts for the article Getting to backlog zero: Ensuring accountability across VA, The Hill Congress Blog, September 12, 2013 outline what must happen at the VA. > More than 475,000 veterans are still waiting more than 125 days for the benefits they've earned. To support these veterans and to reach backlog zero requires comprehensive

solutions to some of the systemic problems that have both created and prolonged the VA backlog. No plan to end the backlog will succeed without addressing critical issues that we will highlight this week, continuing with Ensuring Accountability Across VA. > Since September 11th, 2001, five secretaries of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) have pledged to end the VA disability claims backlog. Years later, the backlog remains a critical issue for veterans who face enormous wait tunes for decisions on their disability claims. As of September 3, 769,974 claims are pending at the VA and 476,988 of these are stuck in the VA backlog. > A chief role of leaders in the veterans community is holding our government responsible for serving the needs of veterans and their families. This accountability must start at the top, with the Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of the VA. They are ultimately responsible for delivering results to the many veterans stuck in the VA disability benefits backlog. But accountability also must extend to each regional office and every claims rater if we are to bring about the lasting change our vets need. > Right now, the existing metrics show that the VA is not moving fast enough. At the VFW's 2012 national convention, Secretary Shinseki reported that he intended to return to the 2013 summer conference to report, "just 40 percent of claims will be older than 125 days." Days after the 2013 conference, almost 65 percent of pending disability claims were backlogged. In early September, 62 percent of claims are backlogged. If these aren't the benchmarks the VA is using to measure its success, veterans need to know what they should look for. VA history shows that there is a lack of accountability at the organization. The lack of accountability continues to plague claims processing. The HVAC continues to show that there is a lack of accountability of senior executives at the VA, Again, employees are being held accountable as we outlined in our letter last week, but senior executive and managers are not. Therefore, if they are allowed to continue to renege on their promises, use ADHOC procedures, use public relations to cover up their failures, use numbers that are not validated, and senior executives and managers are not held accountable, Veterans and their survivors will continue to suffer. Excerpts from VA finally making progress on benefits claims backlog, Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2013 reports the following: > With the help of a new computer system that will be fully functional next year, the Department of Veterans Affairs is making gains in clearing its notorious logjam of benefits claims. > The Oakland and Los Angeles offices together ship about 85 boxes of files a week to a vendor in Wisconsin, which does the scanning. But, said Willie Clark, the western area director for the Veterans Benefits Administration, "the lion's share of our work is still on paper."

The implementation of the Veterans Benefit Management System (VBMS) has created more delays than progress. The system cannot process a claim from start to finish. Furthermore, VA has to use to different systems to process paperless claims - VBMS and Virtual VA. VA examinations and VA outpatient progress notes are stored in Virtual VA. The indexing of paperless documents in VBMS and Virtual VA is problematic. No, the progress that has been made is the results of mandatory and voluntary overtime "taxpayer's dollars" which will now be continued until at least November, ADHOC procedures that will eventually create more workload management problems, changing the way numbers are reported on the MMWR, shifting resources from appeals and other claims, and using public relations as a tool for deception. / Local 520 will continue to take its responsibility given by law to safeguard the public and to contribute to the effective conduct of public business, seriously. Therefore, we will continue to chime in weekly on this most critical subject with "objective evidence" because Veterans have earned the right to have a claims processing system that works for attof them and employees can only effectively serve them if they are provided with the leadership, processes, people systems and work place culture that are conducive to providing timely and accurate decisions.

Ronald Robinson President (803) 647-2385 (Ofc) (803) 239-7682 (Cell) rbnsnrnld@vahoo.com www.seniorvsr.com Enclosure: Weekly Analysis of VBA Progress - MMWR
CF: President Obama VA Secretary Shinseki President AFGE President NVAC 60 Minutes NY Times Washington Post Center for Investigative Reporting The Washington Examiner VA Watchdog

C&P RATING BUNDLE (RB) 010 110 140 020 320 681 687 405 409 310 120 180 TOT C&P RB *190 ^ TOTC&PENT **930 APPEALS

Q/7/?nn *4/27/2013 70,277 231,946 9,796 478,092 1,616 471 0 2,165 269 17,167 19,704 14,720 846,223 50,868 897,091 28,923 248,012 8/24/2013 56,627 189,063 8,739 446,664 2,143 2,589 1 161 136 22,802 18,039 13,856 760,820 40,394 801,214 28,446 254,957 DIFF 55,981 183,237 8,674 442,402 2,304 2,730 3 109 110 24,149 18,015 13,650 751,364 > 38,548 789,912 27,406 256,081 -646 -5,826 -65 -4,262 Initiatives DIFF -14,296 -48,709 -1,122 -35,690

161
141

688
2,259

2
-52

3
-2,056

-26
1,347 -24 -206 -5,968 -537 -6,505 -436 338

-159
6,982 -1,689 -1,070 -94,859 -12,320 -107,179 -1,517 8,069

GRAND TOTAL
Appeals Other Claims

1,174,026 1,084,617 1,073,399

4/27/2013 248,012 9/7/2013 DIFF >125 % 256,061 8,049 15,645 3,588 7,497 36,945 -1,509 -14,804 -5,421 780 -13,153 48 29,616 37,665

-6,603

-100,627

192,111 207,756 83,645 87,233 45,034 52,531 24,461 61,406 10,214 8,705 53,948 39,144 17,796 12,375 18,546 19,326 60,850 47,697 15,002 15,050 521,607 551,223 Totals 769,619 807,284 *Associated with Provisional Ratings **Pension Maintenance Center (PMC) claims

130 290 600 *400 **137 **150 **297 **607 **160 **165

72.6% 78.7% 52.0% 29.0% 49.2% 71.2% 34.7% 24.7%

Bb&p RB>125
010 110 140 020 320 681 687 405 409 310 120 180 TOTRB>125 *190 TOT ENTITLEMENT 930

4/27/2013
51,015 169,997 3,511 334,813 647 115 0 2,161 224 8,058 8,319 5,056 583,916 32,609 616,525 25,754

8/27/2013
35,962 126,052 1,888 284,152 986 379 0 153 112 9,374 7,002 5,590 471,650 25,257 496,907 24,064

09/07/13
34162 119654 2063 278093 1067 537 0 100 92 9289 6784 5537 457378 24798 482176 22917

*DIFF
-1,800 -6,398 175 -6,059 81 158 0 -53 -20 -85 -218 -53 -14,272 -459 -8,683 -1,147

**DIFF 4/27/2013
-16,853 -50,343 -1,448 -56,720 420 422 0 -2,061 -132 1,231 -1,535 481 -126,538 -7,811 -134,349 -2,837 72.6% 73.3% 35.8% 70.0% 40.0% 24.4% 0.0% 99.8% 83.3% 46.9% 42.2% 34.3% 69.0% 64.1% 69.9% 86.3%

09/07/13
61.0% 65.3% 23.8% 62.9% 46.3% 19.7% 0.0% 91.7% 83.6% 38.5% 37.7% 40.6% 60.9% 64.3% 78.2% 83.6%

DIF -11.6' -8.0' -12.0' -l.V 6.3' -4.7* 0.0' -8.1' 0.3' -8.4' -4,5' 6.3' -8.1' 0.2'

8.3' -2.7'

GRAND TOTAL

642,279

520,971

505093 -15,878

-137,186