Thousands of workers leave the VA amid a flood of new cases and quota demands

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

Thousands of workers leave the VA amid a flood of new cases and quota demands

Claims processors with the Department of Veterans Affairs say a rigid quota system pits their livelihoods against the veterans they signed up to help.

Sept. 30, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT
By Melissa Chan

Claims processors with the Department of Veterans Affairs say they have strained to keep up with a flood of new cases brought on by the PACT Act and an existing quota system that pits their livelihoods against the veterans they signed up to help as a growing number of the processors leave the job.

The PACT Act expanded benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances when it was enacted in August of last year. But that has stressed the VA workers tasked with moving cases along amid a backlog, mandatory overtime, inadequate training and quota demands, according to two former claims processors and four current processors who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

The processors were struggling to manage the workload even before the PACT Act, with more than 2,000 having resigned or retired since 2020. The number of departures has grown each year, data shows.

“The PACT Act came in like a bull,” one of the current processors said. “Morale is on the floor.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/thousands-workers-leave-va-flood-new-cases-quota-demands-rcna103013

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

1. Don't ya just love it when people are expected to do the impossible?

[justaprogressive]

2. Republicans REALLY don't like

socialised medicine!

[Wonder Why]

3. As a disabled vet myself, I have always found that the lower the VA employees were

on the totem pole, the better they were in trying to help do something for you. The nurses have always been outstanding. The doctors are a mixed group, ranging from outstanding to, well you know, doctors think they are God. Once they get higher than that, my experience is that there is a steep downfall and those that run the hospitals are just politicians and mid-level managers caring more about looking good on reports and moving up than helping the vets.

I remember seeing on the wall at my local VA Medical Center multiple sheets of paper showing how they were one of the top ones but their numbers were mostly in the 80% percentile but better than the rest. They were proud of being in the top tier but all I saw in the numbers was that they showed that the best was pleasing only 4 out of 5 veterans - nothing to be proud of IMHO.

I can just see in my mind the big shots sitting around the table wondering why their claims processing numbers were not good and then deciding that the beatings would continue until the morale improved among the processors.