Veterans Benefits Administration: Progress and Challenges in Implementing
the Results Act (Testimony, 03/26/98, GAO/T-HEHS-98-125).

GAO discussed the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA)
implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.

GAO noted that: (1) VBA continues to make progress in setting goals and
measuring its programs' performance but faces significant challenges in
its efforts to successfully implement the Results Act; (2) VBA has
efforts under way to address these challenges, which if continued will
help ensure success; (3) for example, VBA is in the process of
developing results-oriented goals and measures for each of its programs
in response to concerns that GAO and others have raised; (4) developing
more results-oriented goals and measures will require VBA to address
difficult and sensitive questions regarding specific benefit programs,
such as whether disabled veterans are being compensated appropriately
under the existing disability program structure; (5) to address these
questions, VBA is continuing its consultations with Congress, begun last
year in conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
strategic planning efforts; (6) VBA also has efforts under way to
coordinate with agencies that support veterans' benefits programs, such
as the Department of Defense, in achieving specific goals; (7) to
successfully implement the Results Act, VBA must also develop effective
strategies for achieving its performance goals and ensure that it has
accurate, reliable data to measure its progress in achieving these
goals; (8) VBA is in the early stages of developing clear and specific
strategies but has not yet clearly demonstrated how these strategies
will help it achieve the intended results; (9) morever, VBA does not yet
have the data needed to effectively measure its performance in several
key areas; (10) for example, one goal is to ensure that VBA is providing
the best value for the taxpayer dollar; however, VBA currently is unable
to calculate the full cost of providing benefits and services to
veterans; (11) in addition, VBA officials and VA's Inspector General
(IG) have raised concerns about the accuracy of data VBA is currently
collecting; (12) for example, completed ongoing IG audits have
identified data integrity problems with VBA's claims processing
timeliness data; and (13) VBA is currently determining how best to
address these concerns.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-HEHS-98-125
     TITLE:  Veterans Benefits Administration: Progress and Challenges 
             in Implementing the Results Act
      DATE:  03/26/98
   SUBJECT:  Strategic planning
             Veterans benefits
             Agency missions
             Data integrity
             Interagency relations
             Congressional/executive relations
             Internal controls
             Veterans education
             Vocational rehabilitation
IDENTIFIER:  Government Performance and Results Act
             GPRA
             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Before the Subcommittee on Benefits, Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery
Expected at 10:00 a.m.
Thursday, March 26, 1998

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION -
PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN
IMPLEMENTING THE RESULTS ACT

Statement of Cynthia M.  Fagnoni, Associate Director
Veterans' Affairs and Military Health Care Issues
Health, Education, and Human Services Division

GAO/T-HEHS-98-125

GAO/HEHS-98-125T


(105764)


Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV

  BPR - ABC
  GI - ABC
  GPRA - ABC
  IG - ABC
  VA - ABC
  VBA - ABC
  VHA - ABC
  VR - ABC

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION: 
PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN
IMPLEMENTING THE RESULTS ACT
============================================================ Chapter 0

Mr.  Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Veterans Benefits
Administration's (VBA) implementation of the Government Performance
and Results Act of 1993 (the Results Act).  The Congress has taken
steps in recent years to fundamentally change the way federal
agencies respond to management problems, which were so common among
federal agencies that they demanded governmentwide solutions.  The
Results Act was passed to require agencies to clearly define their
missions, set goals, measure performance, and report on their
accomplishments. 

VBA is responsible for administering the Department of Veterans
Affairs' (VA) nonmedical programs that provide financial and other
benefits to veterans, their dependents, and survivors.  These
benefits include disability compensation, pensions, rehabilitation
assistance, education benefits, home loan benefits, and insurance
coverage.  In fiscal year 1997, VBA received over $22 billion in
appropriated funds to provide benefits and services to the nation's
veterans and their families.  My statement will address the progress
VBA has made and the challenges it faces in implementing the Results
Act.  The information in this statement is based on reports we have
issued over the past year on VA's efforts to develop a strategic
plan, a review of VA's fiscal year 1999 performance plan and VBA's
fiscal year 1999 business plan, and discussions with VBA officials.\1

In summary, VBA continues to make progress in setting goals and
measuring its programs' performance but faces significant challenges
in its efforts to successfully implement the Results Act.  VBA has
efforts under way to address these challenges, which if continued
will help ensure success.  For example, VBA is in the process of
developing results-oriented goals and measures for each of its
programs in response to concerns we and others have raised. 
Developing more results-oriented goals and measures will require VBA
to address difficult and sensitive questions regarding specific
benefit programs, such as whether disabled veterans are being
compensated appropriately under the existing disability program
structure.  To address these questions, VBA is continuing its
consultations with the Congress, begun last year in conjunction with
VA's strategic planning efforts.  VBA also has efforts under way to
coordinate with agencies that support veterans' benefits programs,
such as the Department of Defense, in achieving specific goals. 

To successfully implement the Results Act, VBA must also develop
effective strategies for achieving its performance goals and ensure
that it has accurate, reliable data to measure its progress in
achieving these goals.  VBA is in the early stages of developing
clear and specific strategies but has not yet clearly demonstrated
how these strategies will help it achieve the intended results. 
Moreover, VBA does not yet have the data needed to effectively
measure its performance in several key areas.  For example, one goal
is to ensure that VBA is providing the best value for the taxpayer
dollar; however, VBA currently is unable to calculate the full cost
of providing benefits and services to veterans.  In addition, VBA
officials and VA's Inspector General (IG) have raised concerns about
the accuracy of data VBA is currently collecting.  For example,
completed and ongoing IG audits have identified internal control
weaknesses with VBA data systems, including recently identified data
integrity problems with VBA's claims processing timeliness data.  VBA
is currently determining how best to address these concerns. 


--------------------
\1 A list of related GAO products appears at the end of this
testimony. 


   BACKGROUND
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1

The Results Act is the centerpiece of a statutory framework provided
by recent legislation to bring needed improvements to federal
agencies' management activities.  (Other parts of the framework
include the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act, the 1995 Paperwork
Reduction Act, and the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act.) Under the Results
Act, every major federal agency must now ask itself some basic
questions:  What is our mission?  What are our goals and how will we
achieve them?  How can we measure our performance?  How will we use
that information to make improvements?  The act forces federal
agencies to shift their focus away from such traditional concerns as
staffing and activity levels and toward the results of those
activities. 

The act requires agencies to develop strategic plans, annual
performance plans, and annual performance reports.\2 Recognizing that
measuring the results of many federal programs will be difficult, the
Congress permitted the Results Act to be phased in over several
years.  Agencies, including VA, submitted the first cycle of their
strategic plans to the Congress in September 1997.  Last month, VA
submitted its first departmentwide performance plan to the Congress
as part of its fiscal year 1999 budget submission.  Certain VBA
performance goals and measures are included in the departmentwide
plan; a more complete set of VBA goals and measures is included in
VBA's business plan, also included in VA's fiscal year 1999 budget
submission. 

In previous testimony before this Subcommittee, we noted that VBA's
planning process has been evolving.\3 VBA first developed a strategic
plan in December 1994, which covered fiscal years 1996 through 2001. 
The plan laid out VBA's mission, strategic vision, and goals.  For
example, the vocational rehabilitation and counseling (VR) goal was
to enable veterans with service-connected disabilities to become
employable and to obtain and maintain suitable employment.  In
addition, a program goal was to treat beneficiaries in a courteous,
responsive, and timely manner.  However, as VA's Inspector General
noted, VBA's plan did not include specific program objectives and
performance measures that could be used to measure VBA's progress in
achieving its goals.\4

In fiscal year 1995, VBA established a new Results Act strategic
planning process that included business process reengineering
(BPR).\5 VBA began developing five "business-line" plans that
corresponded with its major program areas:  compensation and pension,
educational assistance, loan guaranty,\6 vocational rehabilitation
and counseling, and insurance.  Each business-line plan supplemented
the overall VBA strategic plan--which VBA refers to as its business
plan--by specifying program goals that are tied to VBA's overall
goals.  Also, each business-line plan identified performance measures
that VBA intended to use to track its progress in meeting each plan's
goals.  In VBA's fiscal year 1998 budget submission, VBA set forth
its business goals and measures, most of which were focused on the
process of providing benefits and services, such as timeliness and
accuracy in processing benefit claims. 


--------------------
\2 Agencies are required to submit to the President and the Congress
annual reports on program performance for the previous fiscal year;
these reports review the agencies' success in achieving their
performance goals.  The first performance reports for fiscal year
1999 are due by March 31, 2000. 

\3 Veterans' Affairs:  Veterans Benefits Administration's Progress
and Challenges in Implementing GPRA (GAO/T-HEHS-97-131, May 14,
1997); Veterans Benefits Administration:  Focusing on Results in
Vocational Rehabilitation and Education Programs (GAO/T-HEHS-97-148,
June 5, 1997). 

\4 Office of the Inspector General, Review of the Implementation of
VBA's Strategic Plan and Performance Measurements, 5R1-B18-100
(Washington, D.C.:  Department of Veterans Affairs, Aug.  25, 1995). 

\5 BPR is a systematic, disciplined approach for achieving dramatic
and measurable performance improvements by fundamentally reexamining,
rethinking, and redesigning the processes that an organization uses
to carry out its mission.  VBA began BPR with its compensation and
pension program in October 1995. 

\6 In its fiscal year 1999 business plan, VBA refers to this program
as the housing program. 


   VBA HAS MADE PROGRESS BUT FACES
   SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES IN
   IMPLEMENTING THE RESULTS ACT
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2

As with last year's business plan, VBA's fiscal year 1999 business
plan continues to focus primarily on process-oriented goals and
performance measures.  VBA is, however, developing more
results-oriented goals and measures for its five benefit programs. 
VBA officials consider this initial effort, which it hopes to
complete by this summer, to be an interim step; final
results-oriented goals and measures will be developed following
program evaluations and other analyses, which VBA plans to conduct
over the next 3 to 5 years.  To help achieve its program goals, VBA
has efforts under way to coordinate with other agencies that support
veterans' benefit programs; these efforts will need to be sustained
to ensure quality service to veterans. 

VBA also faces significant challenges in setting clear strategies for
achieving the goals it has established and in measuring program
performance.  For example, VBA considers its BPR efforts to be
essential to the success of key performance goals, such as reducing
the number of days it takes VBA to process a veteran's disability
compensation claim.  VBA is, however, in the process of reexamining
BPR implementation; at this point, it is unclear exactly how VBA
expects reengineered processes to improve claims processing
timeliness.  VBA is also in the process of identifying and developing
key data it needs to measure its progress in achieving specific
goals.  At the same time, VBA recognizes, and is working to correct,
data accuracy and reliability problems with its existing management
reporting systems. 


      FOCUSING ON RESULTS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2.1

In its fiscal year 1999 business plan, VBA has realigned its goals
and measures to better link with VA's departmentwide strategic and
performance plans.  In keeping with the overall structure of VA's
strategic and performance plans, each business-line plan has been
organized into two sections.  The first section--entitled "Honor,
Care, and Compensate Veterans in Recognition of Their Sacrifices for
America"--is intended to incorporate VBA's results-oriented goals in
support of VA's efforts to do just that.  The second section,
entitled "Management Strategies," incorporates goals related to
customer satisfaction, timeliness, accuracy, costs, and employee
development and satisfaction.  This structure more clearly highlights
the need to focus on program results as well as on process-oriented
goals. 

VBA has established specific goals and developed performance measures
for its five benefit programs, which generally focus on the
timeliness and accuracy of benefits and services provided to veterans
as well as veterans' satisfaction with VBA's efforts.  VBA has also
made some progress in developing results-oriented goals and measures
for two of its five programs--VR and housing.  In our assessments of
VA's strategic planning efforts, we determined that perhaps the most
significant challenge for VA is to develop results-oriented goals for
its major programs, particularly for benefit programs.\7

As VBA notes in its business plan, the objective of the VR program is
to increase the number of disabled veterans who acquire and maintain
suitable employment and are considered to be rehabilitated.  To
measure the effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation program
efforts to help veterans find and maintain suitable jobs, VBA has
developed an "outcome success rate," which it defines as the
percentage of veterans who have terminated their program and who have
met accepted criteria for program success.\8 One major goal of VBA's
loan guaranty--or housing--program is to improve the abilities of
veterans to obtain financing for purchasing a home.  The outcome
measure VBA established for this goal is the percentage of veterans
who say they would not have been able to purchase any home, or would
have had to purchase a less expensive home, without a VA-guaranteed
loan.\9

While the results-oriented goals and measures VBA has developed to
date are a positive first step, they do not allow VBA to fully assess
these programs' results.  The VR outcome success rate, for example,
focuses only on those veterans who have left the program, rather than
on all applicants who are eligible for program services.  This
success rate also does not consider how long it takes program
participants to complete the program.  In addition, by relying on
self-reported data from beneficiaries, the housing outcome measure
does not provide objective, verifiable information on the extent to
which veterans are able to obtain housing as a result of VBA's
housing program. 

VBA has also developed what it considers an outcome measure for its
educational assistance program, but this measure focuses on the
extent to which veterans are using their earned education benefit,
rather than on program results.  One of the purposes of this program
is to extend the benefits of a higher education to qualifying men and
women who might not otherwise be able to afford such an education.  A
results-oriented goal would focus on issues such as whether the
program indeed provided the education that the veteran could not
otherwise have obtained.  One measure VBA could use to assess its
progress in achieving this goal would be the extent to which veterans
have obtained a college degree or otherwise completed their
education. 

In the past, VA has cited the lack of formal program evaluations as a
reason for not providing results-oriented goals for many of its
programs.  Evaluations can be an important source of information for
helping the Congress and others ensure that agency goals are valid
and reasonable, providing baselines for agencies to use in developing
performance goals and measures, and identifying factors likely to
affect agency performance.  VBA officials told us they now plan to
develop results-oriented goals and measures for its three other
programs--disability compensation and pensions, education benefits,
and insurance coverage--by this summer.  They consider these goals
and measures--as well as those already developed for the VR and
housing programs--to be interim, with final goals and measures to be
developed following the completion of evaluations and analyses, which
they plan to conduct over the next 3 to 5 years. 

In focusing on program results, VBA will need to tackle difficult
questions in consultation with the Congress.  For example, the
purpose of the disability compensation program is to compensate
veterans for the average loss in earning capacity in civilian
occupations that results from injuries or conditions incurred or
aggravated during military service.  Given this program purpose,
results-oriented goals would focus on issues such as whether disabled
veterans are indeed being compensated for average loss in earning
capacity and whether VBA is providing compensation to all those who
should be compensated.  However, we have reported that the disability
rating schedule, which has served as a basis for distributing
compensation among disabled veterans since 1945, does not reflect the
many changes that medical and socioeconomic conditions may have had
on veterans' earning capacity over the last 53 years.\10 Thus, the
ratings may not accurately reflect the levels of economic loss that
veterans currently experience as a result of their disabilities. 

Issues such as whether veterans are being compensated to an extent
commensurate with their economic losses are particularly sensitive,
according to VBA officials, and for that reason, they plan to consult
with key stakeholders--including the Congress and veterans' service
organizations--over the next few months about the interim goals and
measures VBA is developing.  This will continue the consultative
process, which VA officials, including those from VBA, began last
year as part of VA's efforts to develop a departmentwide strategic
plan. 


--------------------
\7 Managing for Results:  Agencies' Annual Performance Plans Can Help
Address Strategic Planning Challenges (GAO/GGD-98-44, Jan.  30,
1998). 

\8 VR program officials are in the process of defining "program
success." In its business plan, VBA notes that obtaining suitable
employment is the most desirable VR program goal but suggests that
other benefits gained through program participation, such as alcohol
rehabilitation, might also be considered successful outcomes. 

\9 VBA's housing program revised its Veteran Survey in 1996 to
measure the extent to which the housing program is assisting
veterans.  Veterans are now asked whether they could have purchased
their homes without the use of their VA loan guaranty benefits. 

\10 VA Disability Compensation:  Disability Ratings May Not Reflect
Veterans' Economic Losses (GAO/HEHS-97-9, Jan.  7, 1997). 


      COORDINATING RELATED
      PERFORMANCE GOALS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2.2

As VBA develops more results-oriented goals and measures, it also
needs to ensure that it is coordinating efforts with other parts of
VA\11 as well as federal and state agencies that support veterans'
benefits programs.  For example, our work has shown that

  -- state vocational rehabilitation agencies, the Department of
     Labor, and private employment agencies also help veterans find
     employment once they have acquired all of the skills to become
     employable;

  -- VA has contracted for quality reviews of higher education and
     training institutions that have already been reviewed by the
     Department of Education;\12

  -- VBA relies on the Department of Defense for information about
     veterans' military service, including their medical conditions,
     to help determine eligibility for disability compensation,
     vocational rehabilitation, and educational assistance programs;
     and

  -- in determining the eligibility of a veteran for disability
     compensation, VBA usually requires the veteran to undergo a
     medical examination, which is generally performed by a VHA
     physician. 

VBA has efforts under way to coordinate with other federal
agencies--including other VA agencies--as well as states and private
entities to achieve specific goals.  For example, VBA plans, in
coordination with the Department of Defense, to improve the
dissemination of information on education benefits to active duty
service members who have elected to participate in the program.\13
Participants would receive a letter outlining their benefits and the
requirements for maintaining their eligibility.  VBA also is working
with VHA to improve the quality of the disability exams VHA
physicians conduct; the lack of adequate exams has been the primary
reason why appealed disability decisions are remanded to VBA.\14 VBA
will need to continue to coordinate with the organizations that are
critical to veterans' benefits programs to ensure overall
high-quality service to veterans. 


--------------------
\11 VA's major programs are divided among three components:  VBA, the
Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and the National Cemetery
System. 

\12 VA Student Financial Aid:  Opportunity to Reduce Overlap in
Approving Education and Training Programs (GAO/HEHS-96-22, Oct.  30,
1995). 

\13 Upon entering military service, recruits can agree to have their
pay reduced by $100 per month for 1 year to establish their
eligibility for education benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill.  The
vast majority of VBA's educational assistance beneficiaries receive
assistance under this bill. 

\14 If a veteran disagrees with VBA's initial disability decision,
the veteran may appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals.  The Board
may decide the claim or remand (return) it to VBA for further
development and reconsideration. 


      DEVELOPING STRATEGIES TO
      ACHIEVE PERFORMANCE GOALS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2.3

In addition to requiring an agency to identify performance goals and
measures, the Results Act also requires that an agency highlight in
its annual performance plan the strategies needed to achieve its
performance goals.  Without a clear description of the strategies an
agency plans to use, it will be difficult to assess the likelihood of
the agency's success in achieving its intended results.  A clear
strategy would identify specific actions, including implementation
schedules, that the agency was taking or planned to take and how
these actions would achieve intended results. 

VBA is in the early stages of developing clear and specific
strategies.  While it has identified numerous functions and
activities as its strategies, VBA has not clearly demonstrated how
these efforts will lead to intended results.  For example, in its
current business plan, VBA consistently refers to BPR as the key to
achieving its performance goals.  VBA states that with the
implementation of BPR, it will reduce the time it takes to complete
an original claim for compensation to an average of 53 days from the
current estimate of 106 days.  However, VBA does not describe the
specific actions needed, set a timetable for implementing needed
changes, or show a clear link between BPR initiatives and reduced
processing times. 

According to VBA officials, efforts to implement BPR are still under
way and are now being reassessed.  A major challenge VBA faces in
developing clear and specific strategies for achieving performance
goals will be effectively using BPR to identify what actions are
needed to achieve performance goals and explain how these actions
will lead to the intended results. 


      MEASURING AND ASSESSING
      VBA'S PERFORMANCE
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2.4

Now that VA has published its first departmentwide performance plan,
supported by the more detailed information presented in VBA's fiscal
year 1999 business plan, VBA is increasingly focusing on the need for
accurate, reliable data to effectively measure and assess its
performance.  Under the Results Act, agencies are expected to use the
performance and cost data they collect to continuously improve their
operations, identify gaps between their performance and their
performance goals, and develop plans for closing performance gaps. 

However, in developing its performance measures, VBA has identified
numerous data gaps and problems that, if not addressed, will hinder
VBA and others' ability to assess VBA's performance and determine the
extent to which it is achieving its stated goals.  For example, one
goal is to ensure that VBA is providing the best value for the
taxpayers' dollar; however, VBA currently is unable to calculate the
full cost of providing benefits and services to veterans.  VBA's
ability to develop complete cost information for its program
activities hinges on the successful implementation of its new cost
accounting system, Activity Based Costing, currently under
development.  In addition, VBA plans to measure and assess veterans'
satisfaction with the programs and services VBA provides.  The data
VBA needs to make this assessment, however, will not be available
until VBA implements planned customer satisfaction surveys for two of
its five programs--VR and educational assistance. 

In addition, VBA's recently appointed Under Secretary for Benefits
has raised concerns about the accuracy of data contained in VBA's
existing management reporting systems.  Moreover, completed and
ongoing IG audits have identified data system internal control
weaknesses and data integrity problems, which if not corrected will
undermine VBA's ability to reliably measure its performance.  In its
fiscal year 1996 audit of VA's financial statements, for example, the
Inspector General reported that the accounting system supporting the
housing program does not efficiently and reliably accumulate
financial information.  The Inspector General believes the system's
deficiencies have the potential to adversely affect VBA's ability to
accurately and completely produce reliable financial information and
to effectively audit system data.  Also, an ongoing IG audit appears
to have identified data integrity problems with certain performance
data, according to VBA officials.  Specifically, in assessing whether
key claims processing timeliness data are valid, reliable, and
accurate, IG auditors found instances where VBA regional office\15
staff were manipulating data to make their performance appear better
than it in fact was.  VBA officials told us they are in the process
of assessing the data system's vulnerabilities so they can take steps
to correct the problems identified. 


--------------------
\15 VBA processes claims at its 58 regional offices. 


-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2.5

Mr.  Chairman, this completes my testimony this morning.  I would be
pleased to respond to any questions you or Members of the
Subcommittee may have. 

RELATED GAO PRODUCTS

Agencies' Annual Performance Plans Under the Results Act:  An
Assessment Guide to Facilitate Congressional Decisionmaking
(GAO/GGD/AIMD-10.1.18, Feb.  1998). 

Vocational Rehabilitation:  Opportunities to Improve Program
Effectiveness (GAO/T-HEHS-98-87, Feb.  4, 1998). 

Managing for Results:  Agencies' Annual Performance Plans Can Help
Address Strategic Planning Challenges (GAO/GGD-98-44, Jan.  30,
1998). 

The Results Act:  Observations on VA's August 1997 Draft Strategic
Plan (GAO/T-HEHS-97-215, Sept.  18, 1997). 

The Results Act:  Observations on VA's June 1997 Draft Strategic Plan
(GAO/HEHS-97-174R, July 11, 1997). 

Veterans Benefits Administration:  Focusing on Results in Vocational
Rehabilitation and Education Programs (GAO/T-HEHS-97-148, June 5,
1997). 

The Government Performance and Results Act:  1997 Governmentwide
Implementation Will Be Uneven (GAO/GGD-97-109, June 2, 1997). 

Veterans' Affairs:  Veterans Benefits Administration's Progress and
Challenges in Implementing GPRA (GAO/T-HEHS-97-131, May 14, 1997). 

Veterans' Employment and Training Service:  Focusing on Program
Results to Improve Agency Performance (GAO/T-HEHS-97-129, May 7,
1997). 

Agencies' Strategic Plans Under GPRA:  Key Questions to Facilitate
Congressional Review (GAO/GGD-10.1.16, ver.  1, May 1997). 

Managing for Results:  Using GPRA to Assist Congressional and
Executive Branch Decisionmaking (GAO/T-GGD-97-43, Feb.  12, 1997). 

VA Disability Compensation:  Disability Ratings May Not Reflect
Veterans' Economic Losses (GAO/HEHS-97-9, Jan.  7, 1997). 


*** End of document. ***