United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1995-01-13 monographic deposited born digital 36 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-95-25 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25 P0b002ee180399488 f:he95025 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25 HEHS-95-25 Veterans benefits Claims processing Veterans disability compensation Productivity Operations analysis Information processing operations Claims settlement Accounting procedures Work measurement standards Cost effectiveness analysis Letter Report HEHS Slow claims processing and poor customer service has long been recognized as serious problems for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As early as 1990, VA began encouraging its regional offices to improve their claims processing system, but processing times and backlogs have increased rather than decreased. At the end of fiscal year 1994, nearly 500,000 claims awaited a VA decision. About 65,000 of these were initial disability compensation claims. On average during fiscal year 1994, veterans waited more than seven months for their initial disability claims to be decided and, if approved, payments to begin; some waited much longer. This report discusses VA's current plans to change regional office claims processing and assesses VA's plans to determine the effectiveness of those changes. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25.pdf GAO/HEHS-95-25 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-25 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-95-25; Veterans' Benefits: Better Assessments Needed to Guide Claims Processing Improvements; Veterans benefits Claims processing Veterans disability compensation Productivity Operations analysis Information processing operations Claims settlement Accounting procedures Work measurement standards Cost effectiveness analysis