Report: VA needs better strategy to handle disability backlog

[unhappycamper]

http://kdhnews.com/military/report-va-needs-better-strategy-to-handle-disability-backlog/article_97a9f47a-8d5a-11e3-a965-0017a43b2370.html

Report: VA needs better strategy to handle disability backlog
Posted: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 4:30 am
By Lauren Kirkwood | McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Despite a significant decrease in the backlog of veteran disability claims last year, a report released by an advocacy group said that without a better strategy, the Department of Veterans Affairs may struggle to keep up with future claims.

The report from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, released Monday, warned that even as recent initiatives helped the VA cut its backlog by 37 percent from March to December 2013, the department’s claims process lacks both the accountability and the transparency necessary for the coming decades.

“We still have a new generation of veterans coming home now, so we don’t want to see this issue fade away, regardless of whether we reach backlog zero,” said Jacqueline Maffucci, the group’s research director and author of the report. “There is still plenty of work to be done after the VA reaches that goal.”

The VA has a goal of eliminating the backlog of disability claims pending for more than 125 days by 2015; the backlog has hovered at about 400,000 since November.



unhappycamper comment: I know a Nam grunt (tour #1) and combat medic (tour#2) who first applied for PTSD compensation eight years ago. His shrink sent in the PTSD paperwork to the Philadelphia office last January; he's still waiting hear from the VA.