Veterans' Benefits: Despite Recent Improvements, Meeting Claims  
Processing Goals Will Be Challenging (26-APR-02, GAO-02-645T).	 
                                                                 
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will provide $25 billion 
in compensation and pension benefits in fiscal year 2002 to more 
than three million veterans, dependents and survivors. For years,
the compensation and pension claims process has been subject to  
long long waits for decision and large claims backlogs. VA's goal
for fiscal year 2003 is to complete accurate decisions on	 
rating-related claims in an average of 100 days. To achieve this,
the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is focusing on	 
increasing production of rating decisions and reducing the	 
inventory of claims to about 250,000. As of the end of March	 
2002, VBA was completing claims in an average of 224 days and had
an inventory of about 412,000 claims. VBA is trying to		 
significantly increase regional offices' rating decision	 
production to reduce the inventory, and, in turn, reduce the time
required to complete decisions. VBA expects to increase 	 
production by hiring more staff and increasing the proficiency of
new staff. Although VBA has recently increased its production and
reduced its inventory, meeting its production and inventory	 
reduction and its timeliness goals will be challenging. 	 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-02-645T					        
    ACCNO:   A03183						        
  TITLE:     Veterans' Benefits: Despite Recent Improvements, Meeting 
Claims Processing Goals Will Be Challenging			 
     DATE:   04/26/2002 
  SUBJECT:   Claims processing					 
	     Pension claims					 
	     Performance measures				 
	     Personnel management				 
	     Personnel recruiting				 
	     Strategic planning 				 
	     Veterans benefits					 
	     Veterans disability compensation			 
	     Veterans pensions					 

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GAO-02-645T
     
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Benefits, Committee on Veterans'
Affairs, House of Representatives

United States General Accounting Office

GAO For Release on Delivery Expected at 1: 00 p. m. MDT, Friday, April 26,
2002 VETERANS' BENEFITS

Despite Recent Improvements, Meeting Claims Processing Goals Will Be
Challenging

Statement of Cynthia A. Bascetta, Director, Health Care- Veterans' Health
and Benefits Issues

GAO- 02- 645T

Page 1 GAO- 02- 645T

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: We are pleased to be here
today to discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs? (VA) progress in
reducing veterans? waiting times for decisions on their disability
compensation and pension claims. VA expects to provide about $25 billion in
compensation and pension benefits in fiscal year 2002 to over 3 million
veterans and their dependents and survivors. For years, the compensation and
pension claims process has been the subject of concern and attention within
VA and by the Congress and veterans service organizations. Many of their
concerns have focused on the long waits for decisions and large claims
backlogs, both of which have negatively affected the quality of service
provided to veterans. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has made improving
compensation and pension claims processing performance one of VA?s top
management priorities. The Secretary?s end of fiscal year 2003 goal is to
complete accurate decisions on rating- related claims in an average of 100
days. 1 To achieve this goal, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is
focusing on increasing production of rating decisions and reducing the
inventory of claims to about 250,000. As of the end of March 2002, VBA was
completing claims in an average of 224 days and had an inventory of about
412,000 claims.

My comments today address (1) the current status of VBA?s continuing claims
processing performance problems, (2) VBA?s progress to date and its
challenges in meeting its production and inventory reduction goals, and (3)
longstanding issues that will affect VBA?s ability to improve timeliness and
sustain performance improvements. This statement draws from our body of work
on claims processing (see Related GAO Products); our ongoing study of VBA?s
implementation of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) of 2000; and
additional discussions with VBA central office officials and officials
responsible for VBA?s Tiger Team and Resource Centers.

In summary, compensation and pension claims processing has been a long-
standing management problem for VBA. Since we testified before the
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of this Committee in May 2000,
2 VBA?s rating- related claims inventory has risen by about 85 percent;

1 Rating- related claims are primarily original claims for compensation and
pension benefits and ?reopened? claims by veterans already receiving such
benefits. 2 U. S. General Accounting Office, Veterans Benefits
Administration: Problems and Challenges Facing Disability Claims Processing,
GAO/ T- HEHS/ AIMD- 00- 146, (Washington, D. C.: May 18, 2000).

Page 2 GAO- 02- 645T

the number of claims waiting more than 6 months has risen by more than 175
percent; and the timeliness of completing decisions has worsened. VBA?s
response to the Secretary?s promise to give veterans faster decisions on
their claims is focused on significantly increasing regional offices? rating
decision production to reduce the inventory and, in turn, reduce the time
required to complete decisions. VBA expected to increase production by
hiring more staff and increasing the proficiency of new staff. Although VBA
has recently increased its production and reduced its inventory, meeting its
production and inventory reduction goals will be challenging. For example,
to meet its goal of completing 839,000 claims in fiscal year 2002, VBA must
increase its production of claims to 78,000 per month in the second half of
the fiscal year from 61,000 per month in the first half. Also, to reach its
end of the year inventory goal, VBA must reduce its inventory by about
16,000 claims a month over the second half of the year, from an average of
about 1,400 per month in the first half. Even if these goals are met, VBA
will have difficulty meeting the Secretary?s timeliness goal. Improving
timeliness depends on more than just increasing production and reducing
inventory. VBA continues to face some of the same challenges we identified
in the past that lengthen claims processing times. For example, VBA needs to
continue to reduce delays in the process

- in particular, delays in obtaining evidence. Without such improvements,
VBA may have difficulty attaining its timeliness goal and sustaining the
progress it makes.

The compensation program pays monthly benefits to veterans who have service-
connected disabilities (injuries or diseases incurred or aggravated while on
active military duty). The pension program pays monthly benefits based on
financial need to wartime veterans who have low incomes and are permanently
and totally disabled for reasons not service- connected. 3 Disability
compensation benefits are graduated in 10 percent increments based on the
degree of disability from 0 percent to 100 percent. Eligibility and priority
for other VA benefits and services such as health care and vocational
rehabilitation are affected by these VA disability ratings. Basic monthly
payments range from $103 for 10 percent disability to $2,163 for 100 percent
disability. Generally, veterans do not receive compensation for disabilities
rated at 0 percent. About 65 percent of veterans receiving

3 Veterans who are 65 years or older do not have to be permanently and
totally disabled to become eligible for pension benefits, as long as they
meet the other requirements for income and military service. Background

Page 3 GAO- 02- 645T

disability compensation have disabilities rated at 30 percent or lower;
about 8 percent are 100 percent disabled. The most common impairments for
veterans who began receiving compensation in fiscal year 2000 were skeletal
conditions, tinnitus, auditory acuity impairment rated at 0 percent,
arthritis due to trauma, scars, and post- traumatic stress disorder.

Veterans may submit claims to any one of VBA?s 57 regional offices. To
develop veterans? claims, veterans service representatives at the regional
offices obtain the necessary information to evaluate the claims. This
includes veterans? military service records; medical examinations and
treatment records from VA medical facilities; and treatment records from
private providers. Once claims are developed, rating veterans service
representatives (hereafter referred to as rating specialists) evaluate the
claimed disabilities and assign ratings based on degree of disability.
Veterans with multiple disabilities receive a single, composite rating. For
veterans claiming pension eligibility, the regional office also determines
if the veteran served in a period of war, is permanently and totally
disabled for reasons not service- connected, and meets the income thresholds
for eligibility.

If a veteran disagrees with the regional office?s decision, he or she can
ask for a review of that decision or appeal to VA?s Board of Veterans
Appeals (BVA). BVA makes the final decision on such appeals and can grant
benefits, deny benefits, or remand (return) the case to the regional office
for further development and reconsideration. After reconsidering a remanded
decision, the regional office either grants the claim or returns it to BVA
for a final VA decision. If the veteran disagrees with BVA?s decision, he or
she may appeal to the U. S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). If
either the veteran or VA disagrees with the CAVC?s decision, they may appeal
to the court of appeals for the federal circuit.

VBA continues to experience problems processing veterans? disability
compensation and pension claims. These include large backlogs of claims and
lengthy processing times. As acknowledged by VBA, excessive claims
inventories have resulted in long waits for veterans to receive decisions on
their claims and appeals. As shown in table 1, VBA?s pending workload of
rating related claims has almost doubled from fiscal year 1997 to fiscal
year 2001. During the same period, VBA?s production of rating- related
claims has steadily declined from about 702,000 to 481,000. The greatest
increase in inventory and decline in production occurred during fiscal year
2001. Claims Processing

Continues to be a Problem

Page 4 GAO- 02- 645T

Table 1: Changes in VBA?s Workload of Rating- Related Claims, Fiscal Years
1997- 2001

Rating- related compensation and pension claims Fiscal year Received
Completed End of year

inventory

1997 740,052 701,717 213,193 1998 691,461 663,400 241,254 1999 639,070
630,145 250,179 2000 578,773 601,451 227,501 2001 674,219 481,117 420,603
Source: Veterans Benefits Administration.

Several factors contributed to the significant increase in claims inventory
in fiscal year 2001. VBA attributes much of the increase to VCAA. According
to VBA, the most significant change resulting from the legislation is the
requirement to fully develop claims even in the absence of evidence showing
a current disability or a link to military service. As a result of the VCAA,
VBA undertook a review of about 98,000 veterans? disability claims that were
previously denied under the CAVC?s Morton decision. 4 In addition, the VCAA
has affected the processing of about 244,000 rating- related claims that
were pending at the time the VCAA was enacted and all new compensation and
pension claims received since the law?s enactment. These claims must be
developed and evaluated under the expanded procedures required by the VCAA.
VBA believes this will increase the time to process cases.

Other contributing factors included the recent addition of diabetes as a
presumptive service- connected disability for veterans who served in
Vietnam; the need to train many new claims processing employees; and the
implementation of new VBA processing software. VBA received about 56,500
diabetes claims through November 2001 and expects to receive an additional
76,000 claims during the remainder of fiscal year 2002. The

4 In Morton v. West, 12 Vet. App. 477 (1999), the CAVC ruled that the VA did
not have a duty to assist in developing claims unless they were ?well-
grounded? as required by federal statute; that is, enough evidence was
provided for VA to determine that the claim was plausible. Prior to this
court decision, VA policy was to assist claimants in developing a well-
grounded claim. This practice, however, was not required by law, and VBA
regional offices varied in the amount of assistance they provided. The VCAA
(P. L. 106- 475) was enacted on November 9, 2000; this law repealed the
requirement that claims be wellgrounded and it obligated VA to assist a
claimant in obtaining evidence that is necessary to establish eligibility
for the benefit being sought.

Page 5 GAO- 02- 645T

influx of new claims processing staff during fiscal year 2001 has also
temporarily hampered the productivity of experienced staff. According to
officials at some of the regional offices we visited, experienced rating
specialists had less time to spend on rating work because they were helping
train and mentor new rating specialists. Although this may have reduced
short- term production, it should enable VBA to increase production in the
long term by enhancing the proficiency of new staff. Furthermore, regional
office officials noted that the learning curve and implementation
difficulties with VBA?s new automated rating preparation system (Rating
Board Automation 2000) hampered their productivity. 5

Over the last 3 years, the average time VBA takes to complete ratingrelated
claims has increased from 166 to 181 days - which places it far from
reaching its end of fiscal year 2003 goal of 100 days (see fig. 1). 6 During
the same period, the average age of pending claims increased from 144 to 182
days. In fiscal year 2001, the average age of pending cases was actually
greater than the average time to complete decisions. According to officials
at some of the regional offices we visited, staff have recently been
focusing on completing simpler and less time- consuming cases. Officials
told us that focusing on completing simpler cases might result in increases
in production and short- term improvements in timeliness. At the same time,
it may also result in the office?s pending inventory getting even older.

5 Rating Board Automation 2000 is a system designed to assist rating
specialists in preparing rating decisions on claims. 6 VA?s Strategic Plan
for fiscal years 2001 - 2006 includes a strategic goal of completing rating-
related claims in an average of 74 days in fiscal year 2006.

Page 6 GAO- 02- 645T

Figure 1: Average Days to Complete Rating- Related Claims, Fiscal Years 1999
to 2003

Source: Department of Veterans Affairs Fiscal Year 2003 Performance Plan.

In addition to problems with timeliness of decisions, VBA acknowledges that
the accuracy of regional office decisions needs to be improved. Inaccurate
decisions can also lead to delays in resolving claims when veterans appeal
to the BVA. Appeals to BVA can add many months to the time required to
resolve claims. In fiscal year 2001, the average time to resolve an appeal
was 595 days - almost 20 months. VBA has made progress in improving its
accuracy; its accuracy rate for rating- related decisions increased from 59
percent in fiscal year 2000 to 78 percent in fiscal year 2001. Beginning in
fiscal year 2002, VBA has revised its key accuracy measure to focus on
whether regional office decisions to grant or deny claims were correct. 7
This revision to VBA?s quality assurance

7 Prior to this change, VA?s accuracy rate included whether decisions to
grant or deny claims were correct and also included errors stemming from
procedural and technical issues, such as failure to include all the
documentation in the case file.

Page 7 GAO- 02- 645T

program is consistent with a recommendation made by the 2001 VA Claims
Processing Task Force. 8

VBA has made some progress in improving its production and reducing its
inventory but will be challenged to meet the production and inventory goals
it has set for fiscal year 2002. Recognizing the need to address VBA?s long-
standing claims processing timeliness problem and excessive inventory, the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs has made improving claims processing
performance in its regional offices one of VA?s top management priorities.
Specifically, the Secretary?s end of fiscal year 2003 goals are to complete
accurate decisions on rating- related compensation and pension claims in an
average of 100 days and reduce VBA?s inventory of such claims to about
250,000.

To achieve these goals, VBA is focusing on increasing the number of claims
decisions its regional offices can complete. At the same time, VBA has
implemented two initiatives to expedite claim decisions. In October 2001,
VBA established the Tiger Team at its Cleveland Regional Office, a
specialized unit including experienced rating specialists, to expedite the
processing of claims for veterans aged 70 and older and clear from the
inventory claims that have been pending for over a year. VBA also
established nine Resource Centers to process claims from regional offices
that are ?ready to rate.? 9 A claim is ready to rate after all the needed
evidence is collected.

To meet the Secretary?s inventory goal, VBA plans to complete about 839,000
rating- related claims decisions in fiscal year 2002. Of these claims, the
regional offices are expected to complete about 792,000, while VBA?s Tiger
Team and Resource Centers are expected to complete the balance of 47,000
claims. This level of production is greater than VBA has achieved in any of
the last 5 fiscal years -VBA?s peak production was about 702,000 claims in
fiscal year 1997. However, VBA has significantly more rating staff

8 In May 2001, the Secretary established the VA Claims Processing Task Force
to recommend ways to improve VA?s claims processing production, reduce its
claims backlog, and improve its claims processing timeliness. The task force
issued its report in October 2001.

9 The Resource Centers are located at the regional offices in San Diego,
California; St. Petersburg, Florida; Togus, Maine; St. Louis, Missouri;
Muskogee, Oklahoma; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Columbia, South Carolina;
Seattle, Washington; and Huntington, West Virginia. Some Progress Made,

but Meeting Production and Inventory Goals Will be Challenging

Page 8 GAO- 02- 645T

now than it did in any of the previous 5 fiscal years. VBA?s rating staff
has increased by about 50 percent since fiscal year 1997 to 1,753. To reach
VBA?s fiscal year 2002 production goal, rating specialists will need to
complete on average about 2.5 cases per day - a level VBA achieved in fiscal
year 1999. VBA expects this production level to result in an end of year
inventory of about 316,000 rating- related claims, which VBA believes would
put the agency on track to meet the Secretary?s inventory goal of 250,000
cases by the end of fiscal year 2003.

To meet its production goal, in December 2001, VBA allocated its fiscal year
2002 national production target to its regional offices 10 based on each
regional office?s capacity to produce rating- related claims given each
office?s number of rating staff and their experience levels. 11 For example,
an office with 5 percent of the national production capacity received 5
percent of the national production target. In February 2002, VBA revised how
it allocated the monthly production targets to its regional offices based on
input from regional offices regarding their current staffing levels. In
allocating the target, VBA considered each regional office?s fiscal year
2001 claims receipt levels, production capacity, and actual production in
the first quarter of fiscal year 2002.

To hold regional office managers accountable, VBA incorporated specific
regional office production goals into regional office performance standards.
For fiscal year 2002, regional office directors are expected to meet their
annual production target or their monthly targets in 9 out of 12 months.
Generally, the combined monthly targets for the regional offices increase as
the year progresses and as the many new rating specialists hired in previous
years gain experience and become fully proficient claims processors.

The Tiger Team, primarily made up of Cleveland Regional Office staff, was
established to supplement regional office capacity. It identifies claims of

10 VBA had initially established production targets in March 2001 for April
through December 2001. The target was to complete 52, 000 rating related
claims per month that would allow VBA to reduce its inventory by 1 percent
per month.

11 In determining regional office production capacity, VBA officials told us
that they considered the various experience levels of regional office rating
specialists. For example, rating specialists with 6 months to 1 year of
experience are expected to rate half as many claims as rating specialists
with more than 2 years of experience. A rating specialist with 1 to 2 years
of experience would be expected to rate three- quarters as many claims as a
rating specialist with over 2 years? experience.

Page 9 GAO- 02- 645T

veterans aged 70 and over as well as those pending for 1 year or more and
then requests these claims from the regional offices. The Tiger Team?s 17
rating specialists and 18 veterans service representatives are expected to
perform whatever additional development work is needed on the claims they
receive and to make rating decisions on these claims. To help expedite
development work, VBA has obtained priority access for the Tiger Team to
obtain evidence from VA and other federal agencies. For example, VA and the
National Archives and Records Administration completed a Memorandum of
Understanding in October 2001 to expedite Tiger Team requests for service
records at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis,
Missouri. Also, VBA established procedures and timeframes for expediting
Tiger Team requests for medical evidence and examinations. Veterans Health
Administration (VHA) medical facilities were, in general, given 3 days to
comply with requests for medical records and 10 days to provide reports of
medical examinations. As of mid- April 2002, the Tiger Team has completed
about 7,800 claims requested from 42 regional offices. From December 2001
through March 2002 the team?s production exceeded its goal of 1,328
decisions per month. According to Tiger Team officials, its experienced
rating specialists were averaging about 4 completed ratings per day.
Officials added that in the short term, completing old claims might increase
VBA?s average time to complete decisions.

Meanwhile, the Resource Centers also supplement regional offices? rating
capacity by making decisions on claims that were awaiting decisions at the
regional offices. VBA officials noted that the rating specialists at the
Resource Centers tend to be less experienced; thus, they are expected to
produce fewer ratings per day than the Tiger Team. From October 2001 through
March 2002, the Resource Centers had completed about 14,000 ratings.

Although VBA has made some progress in increasing production and reducing
inventory, achieving its fiscal year 2002 production and inventory goals
will be challenging. VBA expects to increase production in the second half
of the fiscal year. During the first 6 months of fiscal year 2002, VBA
produced about 368,000 decisions - 61,000 per month. To meet its goal of
producing 839, 000 rating decisions for the fiscal year, VBA must increase
its production to about 78,000 decisions a month for the second half of the
fiscal year. Meanwhile, the rating- related inventory declined by 2 percent
during the first half of fiscal year 2002. To reach VBA?s inventory goal of
316,000 claims by the end of fiscal year 2002, the inventory must decline by
another 23 percent over the next 6 months.

Page 10 GAO- 02- 645T

Officials at some of the regional offices we visited said they were having
difficulty reaching their production targets. Some offices were ?cherry

picking? - completing easier cases in order to meet production goals.
Meanwhile, older claims were not being worked. While the Tiger Team is
designed to resolve some of these older claims, regional offices will
eventually have to handle this workload. Another issue raised by officials
at one regional office was inadequate numbers of staff to develop claims for
the rating specialists. While VBA has defined capacity based on the number
and experience of rating specialists, regional offices also need sufficient
veterans service representatives to develop claims for the rating
specialists.

VBA will likely have difficulty meeting the Secretary?s fiscal year 2003
timeliness goal, even if it meets its production and inventory goals. VBA
will have to cut its average claims processing time by more than half -

from an average of 224 days in the first half of fiscal year 2002 - to meet
the 100 day goal. However, improving timeliness depends on more than just
increasing production and reducing inventory. VBA also needs to address
long- standing problems affecting timeliness. VBA needs to continue to make
progress in reducing delays in obtaining evidence; ensuring that it will
have enough experienced staff in the long term; and implementing information
systems to help improve claims processing productivity. Furthermore,
external factors beyond VBA?s control, such as decisions made by the CAVC
and the filing behavior of veterans, will continue to affect VBA?s workload
and its ability to make sustained improvements in performance.

Much of the delay in completing claims is not related to the time a rating
specialist spends on the claim. Rather, delays come in the development
process - time waiting for evidence. The Tiger Team has been able to achieve
high production levels, in part, through priority access to service and VHA
medical records and expedited VHA medical examinations. However, not every
regional office can benefit from such expedited access. VBA needs to
continue its progress in reducing delays in general. VBA has initiatives to
improve its access to evidence needed to decide claims. For example, VBA has
established an office at the NPRC to expedite regional office requests for
service records. Also, VBA has initiatives to obtain better and more timely
medical information from VA medical facilities. VBA has access to VHA?s
medical records database. Also, VBA and VHA have established a Joint Medical
Examination Improvement Office to help identify ways to improve the quality
and timeliness of VHA?s compensation and pension medical examinations. Even
if VBA Meets Its

Production and Inventory Goals, Meeting Timeliness Goal Will be Difficult

Page 11 GAO- 02- 645T

While these initiatives seem promising, it is unclear the extent to which
they will improve timeliness.

VBA needs to ensure that it can maintain the necessary expertise to process
claims as experienced claims decision makers retire over the next several
years. To accomplish this, VBA needs to ensure that its new claims
processing staff are receiving the necessary training and on the job
experience to become proficient and that it retains these employees. VA
plans to complete a workforce plan in 2002, which should address VBA?s
succession planning needs. Also, VBA needs to continue its progress in
implementing its training and performance support system for claims
processing staff.

Furthermore, VBA needs to overcome delays in implementing its information
system improvements. We recently noted that, after 16 years, VBA is still
experiencing delays in implementing its replacement benefit delivery system.
12 Also, officials at some of the regional offices we have visited noted
that the initial implementation of rating board automation (RBA) 2000 - the
application designed to assist rating specialists in rating benefit claims -
has reduced their rating production.

These challenges affect not only VBA?s ability to meet its fiscal year 2003
goals, but also its ability to sustain the progress it makes in improving
claims processing performance. To sustain its progress, VBA needs to be able
to maintain increased production levels, so it can deal with future events
that could significantly increase its workload. Recent history has shown how
actions by VA, the Congress, and the CAVC can have significant impacts on
VBA?s workload. For example, VA?s decision to provide compensation to
Vietnam veterans with diabetes is having a significant impact on VBA?s
workload. By the end of fiscal year 2003, VBA expects to have received
197,500 diabetes claims. VBA has cited the influx of diabetes claims as a
factor in its fiscal year 2001 inventory increase. Also, the CAVC?s Morton
decision, and the Congress? reaction in passing the VCAA, show the impact of
procedural changes on VBA?s workload. In fiscal year 2000, VBA reduced its
rating- related inventory from about 250,000 to about 228,000 in part
because regional offices denied more than 98,000 claims as not well-
grounded under Morton. However, the overruling

12 U. S. General Accounting Office, VA Information Technology: Progress
Made, but Continued Management Attention Is Key to Achieving Results, GAO-
02- 369T, (Washington, D. C.: Mar. 13, 2002).

Page 12 GAO- 02- 645T

of Morton by the VCAA was a major factor in the increase in inventory for
fiscal year 2001 and is expected to have a continuing impact on timeliness
because of lengthened timeframes for obtaining evidence.

VBA is working hard to meet the Administration?s commitment to improve its
service to veterans by providing more timely decisions on their claims. VBA
is better staffed to meet its claims workload than it has been in recent
years. This, in turn, should translate into a more productive VBA workforce
in the future. However, increasing staffing is not enough. VBA needs to
address many of the same challenges to improving timeliness we reported in
May 2000 - such as improving waiting times for evidence. VBA has a number of
initiatives to improve its process, including the implementation of the
Claims Processing Task Force?s recommendations. VBA needs to continue its
progress, while also addressing its future succession planning and
information technology needs. By addressing these challenges, VBA can better
ensure that it will be able to sustain the performance improvements it makes
in fiscal years 2002 and 2003.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would be pleased to
respond to any questions you or Members of the Subcommittee may have.

For further contacts regarding this testimony, please call Cynthia A.
Bascetta at (202) 512- 7101. Others who made key contributions to this
testimony are Irene Chu, Steve Morris, Martin Scire, and Greg Whitney. GAO
Contact and

Staff Acknowledgments

Page 13 GAO- 02- 645T

Veterans? Benefits: Improvements Needed in Processing Disability Claims.
GAO/ HRD- 89- 24. Washington, D. C.: June 22, 1989.

Veterans? Compensation: Medical Reports Adequate for Initial Disability
Ratings but Need to Be More Timely. GAO/ HRD- 90- 115. Washington, D. C.:
May 30, 1990.

Veterans? Benefits: Status of Claims Processing Initiative in VA?s New York
Regional Office. GAO/ HEHS- 94- 183BR. Washington, D. C.: June 17, 1994.

Veterans? Benefits: Lack of Timeliness, Poor Communication Cause Customer
Dissatisfaction. GAO/ HEHS- 94- 179. Washington, D. C.: September 20, 1994.

Veterans? Benefits: Better Assessments Needed to Guide Claims Processing
Improvements. GAO/ HEHS- 95- 25. Washington, D. C.: January 13, 1995.

Veterans? Benefits: Effective Interaction Needed Within VA to Address
Appeals Backlog. GAO/ HEHS- 95- 190. Washington, D. C.: September 27, 1995.

Veterans? Benefits: Improvements Made to Persian Gulf Claims Processing.
GAO/ T- HEHS- 98- 89. Washington, D. C.: February 5, 1998.

Veterans? Benefits Claims: Further Improvements Needed in ClaimsProcessing
Accuracy. GAO/ HEHS- 99- 35. Washington, D. C.: March 1, 1999.

Veterans Benefits Administration: Progress Encouraging, but Challenges Still
Remain. GAO/ T- HEHS- 99- 77. Washington, D. C.: March 25, 1999.

Veterans? Benefits: Promising Claims- Processing Practices Need to Be
Evaluated. GAO/ HEHS- 00- 65. Washington, D. C.: April 7, 2000.

Veterans Benefits Administration: Problems and Challenges Facing Disability
Claims Processing. GAO/ T- HEHS/ AIMD- 00- 146. Washington, D. C.: May 18,
2000.

Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Department of Veterans
Affairs. GAO- 01- 255. Washington, D. C.: January 2001. Related GAO Products

Page 14 GAO- 02- 645T

Veterans? Benefits: Training for Claims Processors Needs Evaluation.

GAO- 01- 601. Washington, D. C.: May 31, 2001.

Veterans Affairs: Status of Achieving Key Outcomes and Addressing Major
Management Challenges. GAO- 01- 752. Washington, D. C.: June 15, 2001.

Veterans? Benefits: Quality Assurance for Disability Claims Processing.

GAO- 01- 930R. Washington, D. C.: August 23, 2001.

(130134)
*** End of document. ***