I hope that most Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices are doing a better processing disability claims than the one in Waco, Texas.
A new report has found that 40 percent of the disability claims reviewed in the Waco VA Regional Office were not processed correctly, and it recommends that employees be given a refresher course, KWTX-TV reported Wednesday.
The Waco office has been the target of criticism because it’s been plagued by bottlenecks in claims and long wait-times for claims to be processed, the TV station reported.
The VA’s Office of the Inspector General looked at 60 disability claims at the Waco office, and determined that “15 of 30 temporary 100 percent disability evaluations were inaccurate and that errors were made in processing nine of 30 traumatic brain injury claims,” KWTX-TV said
http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/VAOIG-13-00368-244.pdf
The errors on the 100 percent disability claims related to controls not being set up to request future medical examinations, while the mistakes processing the TBI claims had to do with staff members not being trained properly and staffers being inexperienced, according to KWTX-TV.
The VA report recommends a review of the 100 percent disability claims in Waco and refresher training on processing TBI claims.
The critical report prompted one Texas congressman, U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, who has Fort Hood in his district, to call for the VA to stop delivering “sub-par service” to vets.
All in all, the report said the Waco VA office was fairly effective in offering mental health care for Gulf War veterans, and that it was doing proper outreach to homeless vets.
Veterans seeking assistance on their disability claims can contact my office by phone, 800-992-9447, or by email,
g@gordonjohnson.com.
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