Examining VA Efforts to Decrease Delays in Veterans’ Disability Compensation Claims

House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs

2025-04-09

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Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This meeting focused on inefficiencies in the VA disability claims process, particularly "overdevelopment," and explored strategies to improve processing times, enhance employee training, and address concerns regarding employee morale and collective bargaining rights. Speakers highlighted the impact of current systems on veterans and the VA workforce, while VA representatives detailed their ongoing efforts to implement technological and training solutions to streamline operations and reduce errors [ 00:04:49-00:04:53 ] .

Themes

Overdevelopment in VA Disability Claims

Overdevelopment occurs when the VA takes unnecessary steps to obtain records or exams, even when existing documents are sufficient, leading to prolonged wait times and potential for incorrect decisions on veterans' claims [ 00:04:55-00:05:02 ] . This practice not only wastes veterans' time and money but also results in significant government expenditure, with an estimated $1.4 million spent on unnecessary exams from April to September 2023 alone [ 00:05:03 ] . The root causes identified include inadequate training for claims processors and confusing or inconsistent guidance [ 00:06:07 ]

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. The VA has established an Overdevelopment Reduction Task Force, which recommended actions such as targeted quality reviews, updated policy guidance, and increased training [ 00:06:19 ]

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. Current VA efforts include enhancing the Exam Scheduling Assistant and implementing new training strategies, which have contributed to a 7% decrease in exam overdevelopment errors in fiscal year 2025 to date .

National Work Queue (NWQ) and Claims Processing Improvements

The National Work Queue (NWQ) distributes VA claims across regional offices and has generally decreased decision wait times [ 00:06:56-00:07:04 ]

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. However, a significant issue arises when claims deferred for development are returned to the NWQ and often routed to different claims processors, sometimes resulting in repeated overdevelopment errors and months or years of delays for veterans [ 00:07:08-00:07:26 ]

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. Critics suggest that the NWQ should be modified to keep claims within the same regional office or return them to the original processor to facilitate learning from mistakes and improve efficiency . The VA is developing solutions for the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) that will provide real-time error checks for employees before claims return to the NWQ, aiming to reduce misdevelopment and avoidable deferrals . Additionally, the VA is working on advanced data analytics and predictive modeling for the NWQ to prioritize claims and distribute them based on complexity and employee expertise, with an estimated completion in fiscal year 2026 .

VA Employee Support, Morale, and Training

The well-being and effectiveness of VA employees are crucial for serving veterans effectively, as they often work in high-pressure environments, with many being veterans themselves [ 00:09:38-00:09:42 ]

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. However, concerns were raised about the impact of messages that portray federal workers as having "low productivity," which can hurt morale and ultimately affect job performance . The recent decision to end collective bargaining agreements with unions representing these employees was described as a serious mistake, potentially harming both employees and veterans by undermining a crucial support system for workplace improvements, training quality, and retention . While the VA has revamped its training strategies with interactive modules and specific content related to exam requirements, some employees feel their input on training and technology development is not adequately solicited .

Tone of the Meeting

The tone of the meeting was largely collaborative and focused on practical solutions, with a strong emphasis on the ultimate goal of better serving veterans . While there was acknowledgement of significant progress in processing claims, such as completing over a million claims earlier in the year and reducing the claims backlog, concerns were clearly articulated regarding existing inefficiencies, the impact of current policies on VA employees, and the need for continuous improvement [ 00:04:50 ] . Both committee members and witnesses expressed a shared commitment to supporting veterans and ensuring the VA operates as effectively as possible .

Participants

Transcript

for VA disability compensation exams.  VA cannot make a decision on a veteran's claim until all development is completed.  Although I hear from veterans about how frustrating the wait is for a decision to be made, many times VA effort to obtain records and or exams leads to an award for disability compensation.  On the other hand, overdevelopment is when VA takes unnecessary steps to obtain records or exams.   If existing documents in the veteran's claims file are sufficient to support the claim, VA should not schedule a government-funded disability exam.  Overdevelopment forces veterans to wait longer than necessary for a decision on their claims and can lead to incorrect decisions.  Unnecessary exams also waste veterans' time and money.   Further, if a veteran misses a VA scheduled exam without good cause and they do not reschedule, VA automatically denies the veteran's claim even when it was unnecessary for VA to schedule the exam in the first place.  H.R.  2137, the Review Every Veteran's Claims Act will absolutely fix this injustice.   Overdevelopment also drives government waste because VA pays contracted exam vendors for every exam, even those that were not necessary.  In fiscal year 2023, about 2.4 million exams were completed, a number that rose to approximately 3.2 million in fiscal year 24.  Contracted exam vendors were paid for nearly 95%   of those exams.  In December 2024 report, in the 2024 report, the VA Office of Inspector General, the IG, found that VA spent about $1.4 million on unnecessary exams from April through September 2023.  The total amount of wasted taxpayer dollars each fiscal year is likely much higher.  The OIG review did not cover the full fiscal year or examine all types of claims of decisions, both approvals and denials.   We have heard from OIG and the VA employees that overdevelopment mistakes are due to an inadequate training, claims processors, as well as confusing and inconsistent guidance.
To address overdevelopment, VA created an Overdevelopment Reduction Task Force.  This task force recommended dozens of actions, including targeted quality reviews, updating policy guidance, and increased training.   I look forward to hearing from VA today on the progress made in implementing the task force's recommendations.  Particularly, I'm interested in whether the VA has implemented a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of its efforts using clear result-driven metrics for success.  And I would like to hear about any efforts VA is undertaking to further enhance its strategies to decrease overdevelopment.   Finally, I look forward to discussing whether VA will implement technology to ensure that every claims processor who overdevelops a claim learns from that mistake.   The National Work Queue, also known as NWQ, electronically distributed the majority of VA claims workloads across all regional offices.  The National Work Queue has largely decreased decision wait times, thankfully.  A key feature of the National Work Queue is that when a claims processor defers a claim for development, it's returned to the National Work Queue.  The National Work Queue often then routes the claim to a different claims processor at another regional office for additional action.   We have heard about cases where one claims processor after another claims processor makes the same overdevelopment error in the same veteran's claim.  These repeated mistakes are so-called avoidable deferrals have resulted in months or years long delays for veterans even before a claims processor realizes that the development efforts were unnecessary.  The current system only notifies the most recent claims processor to my understanding that they committed an overdevelopment error.   All the other previous claims processors who committed the same mistake in the same claim are actually never notified which way that's what we need clarification on and therefore do not learn from that specific mistake.   November, 2024 letter then under secretary for benefits, Dr. Jacobs informed me that there are no technological barriers preventing VA from notifying all claims processors who have made the same overdevelopment stake in a single claim.
Mr. Jacobs told me the VA would conduct a pilot study to determine the value of additional functionality.  I look forward to hearing about the study progress and any findings under the current administration.   Every veteran and survivor deserves a timely decision on their claim decisions.  Wait times will decrease if we can reduce or eliminate over development.  I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about VA's efforts to do so.  I now yield to the ranking member.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  Good afternoon, everybody.  Thank you all so much for being here today.  You all have heard me say this a million times.  I'm going to say it a million more times.  Everything we do on this subcommittee is on behalf of our veterans.  Everything.  It's to serve our veterans.   And today, that means making sure that the VA systems used to process disability claims for our veterans work the best they can.  It also means equipping and empowering the employees who serve the veterans.  We need them to be able to do their best work without unnecessary limits or undermining their importance to the system.

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