Veterans' Benefits
Claims Processing Timeliness Performance Measures Could Be Improved Gao ID: GAO-03-282 December 19, 2002The Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, asked GAO to assist the Committee in its oversight of the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA) efforts to improve compensation and pension claims processing. As part of this effort, GAO assessed (1) whether VBA's key timeliness measure clearly reflects its performance and (2) whether it has adequate data to measure the timeliness of its newly created specialized claims processing teams.
VBA's key claims processing timeliness measure does not clearly reflect how quickly it decides claims by veterans and their families for disability compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity compensation benefits. Although each program has its own purpose and eligibility requirements, VBA does not set a separate timeliness goal for each in its annual performance plan. This obscures the significant differences in the time required to complete decisions under each program. Fiscal year 2002 timeliness, using VBA's measure, was 223 days; however, disability compensation decisions took significantly longer than decisions under the other two programs. A disability compensation decision requires more evidence, in part because VBA must determine that each claimed disability is related to the veteran's military service. VBA does not yet have adequate data to measure the timeliness of its new specialized regional office claims processing teams but is working to improve its data. VBA's inventory management system, which allows it to report and analyze teams' timeliness, relies on an existing information system that does not provide timeliness data on all cases. VBA is acting to improve the completeness of the data in the existing system. Meanwhile, VBA is deploying new software that it expects should enable it to capture more complete and accurate data. VBA expects to deploy this new software at all regional offices by October 2003.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director: Team: Phone:GAO-03-282, Veterans' Benefits: Claims Processing Timeliness Performance Measures Could Be Improved
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Report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Committee on
Veterans‘ Affairs, U.S. Senate:
United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
December 2002:
Veterans‘ Benefits:
Claims Processing Timeliness Performance Measures Could Be Improved:
GAO-03-282:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-03-282, a report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority
Member, Committee on Veterans‘ Affairs, United States Senate:
Why GAO Did This Study:
The Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Veterans‘
Affairs, asked GAO to assist the Committee in its oversight of the
Veterans Benefits Administration‘s (VBA) efforts to improve
compensation
and pension claims processing. As part of this effort, GAO assessed (1)
whether VBA‘s key timeliness measure clearly reflects its performance
and (2) whether it has adequate data to measure the timeliness of its
newly created specialized claims processing teams.
What GAO Found:
VBA‘s key claims processing timeliness measure does not clearly reflect
how quickly it decides claims by veterans and their families for
disability compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity
compensation benefits. Although each program has its own purpose and
eligibility requirements, VBA does not set a separate timeliness goal
for
each in its annual performance plan. This obscures the significant
differences in the time required to complete decisions under each
program.
Fiscal year 2002 timeliness, using VBA‘s measure, was 223 days;
however,
disability compensation decisions took significantly longer than
decisions
under the other two programs. A disability compensation decision
requires
more evidence, in part because VBA must determine that each claimed
disability is related to the veteran‘s military service.
VBA does not yet have adequate data to measure the timeliness of its
new
specialized regional office claims processing teams but is working
to
improve its data. VBA‘s inventory management system, which allows it
to
report and analyze teams‘ timeliness, relies on an existing
information
system that does not provide timeliness data on all cases. VBA is
acting
to improve the completeness of the data in the existing system.
Meanwhile,
VBA is deploying new software that it expects should enable it
to capture
more complete and accurate data. VBA expects to deploy this new
software
at all regional offices by October 2003.
Highlights Figure:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
What GAO Recommends:
GAO recommends that the Veterans Benefits Administration
establish claims
processing timeliness goals for its three main disability
programs,
incorporate these goals into VA‘s strategic plan and annual
performance
plan, and report its progress in meeting these goals in its
annual
performance report.
VA concurred in principle with GAO‘s recommendation. VA
provided additional
information to clarify the possible timeframe for implementing
timeliness
measures and goals by program.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-282.
To view the full report, including the scope and methodology,
click on the
link above. For more information, contact Cynthia Bascetta at
(202) 512-7101 or bascettac@gao.gov.
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
VBA‘s Key Timeliness Measure Does Not Clearly Reflect Its Performance:
VBA Does Not Have Adequate Data to Measure Timeliness of Claims
Processing Teams, but Is Making Progress:
Conclusions:
Recommendation:
Agency Comments and Our Response:
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs:
Table:
Table 1: Claims Processing Teams and Related Timeliness Measures:
Figure:
Figure 1: Average Days to Complete Rating-Related Cases, Fiscal Year
2002, by Program:
Abbreviations:
CAPS: Claims Automated Processing System:
CPI: claims process improvement:
IMS: inventory management system:
MAP-D: Modern Award Processing-Development:
VA: Department of Veterans Affairs:
VBA: Veterans Benefits Administration:
VSA: veterans service representative:
VSC: Veterans Service Centers:
VSR: veterans service representatives:
December 19, 2002:
The Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV
Chairman
The Honorable Arlen Specter
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Veterans‘ Affairs
United States Senate:
Timely compensation and pension claims processing has been a
longstanding problem for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). In
fiscal year 2002, VBA took an average of more than 7 months to complete
veterans‘ claims for disability compensation and pension benefits. In
order to ensure that veterans and their families receive more timely
decisions, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) tasked VBA to reduce
claims processing time to an average of 100 days by the end of fiscal
year 2003. As part of this effort, the Secretary created the VA Claims
Processing Task Force to recommend ways to improve the claims process.
In October 2001, the task force recommended actions to improve claims
processing. VBA is in the process of implementing these
recommendations.
You asked that we assist the Committee in its oversight of VBA‘s
efforts to improve its compensation and pension claims processing. As
part of this request, you asked that we examine VBA‘s timeliness
performance measures. Specifically, we assessed (1) whether VBA‘s key
timeliness measure clearly reflects its performance and (2) whether VBA
has adequate data to measure the timeliness of its newly created
specialized claims processing teams. We analyzed VBA‘s claims
processing timeliness data. We reviewed VA‘s strategic plan, most
recent performance plan, and report and VBA‘s implementation plan for
its claims process improvement (CPI) initiative. We also talked with
VBA officials about the quality of its existing timeliness data and its
efforts to improve data quality. In addition, we observed how
performance data are collected and used and how the reorganization of
claims processing was being implemented at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
and San Diego, California, regional offices. These were two of the four
pilot sites for VBA‘s CPI initiative, which is implementing task force
recommendations to organize claims processing around specialized teams
to handle specific stages of the claims process at all 57 regional
offices.[Footnote 1] We focused our work on VBA‘s compensation and
pension programs, since they account for most VBA benefit claims and
were the subject of the task force‘s report. We conducted our review
from August through November 2002 in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
Results in Brief:
VBA‘s key timeliness measure does not clearly reflect its speed in
claims processing in that it is a composite figure for three distinct
disability benefit programs--disability compensation, pension, and
dependency and indemnity compensation. While the aggregate timeliness
for deciding rating-related claims in fiscal year 2002 was 223 days, it
was 241 days for disability compensation claims, 126 days for pension
claims, and 172 days for dependency and indemnity compensation claims.
Thus, using one measure obscures VBA‘s timeliness in completing claims
under each of the three different programs. Similarly, VBA has not set
separate timeliness goals for these programs even though each program
has its own purpose, beneficiaries, eligibility criteria, and evidence
requirements. For example, disability compensation is provided to
veterans with service-connected disabilities, while pensions are for
low-income veterans with disabilities that are not related to their
military service.
VBA does not yet have adequate data to measure the timeliness of its
new specialized regional office claims processing teams. VBA is
developing new timeliness measures appropriate to the work of these
specialized teams. However, the current data are not as complete and
accurate as they could be, because the agency currently relies on an
information system that was not used to capture data on all cases. VBA
instructed its regional offices to report on how fully they use the
system and to provide estimated timeframes for full compliance with
data entry requirements. Meanwhile, VBA is deploying new software
applications that are expected to enable it to routinely capture
information on all cases. VBA anticipates being able to better quantify
its performance, determine baselines for future comparisons, and
identify problems for corrective actions when these applications are
deployed at all regional offices by October 2003.
This report contains a recommendation to the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to direct VBA to establish separate claims processing
timeliness goals for each of its three main disability programs,
incorporate these goals into VA‘s strategic plan and its annual
performance plans, and report its progress in meeting these goals in
its annual performance reports.
Background:
VBA‘s compensation program pays monthly benefits to veterans with
service-connected disabilities (injuries or diseases incurred or
aggravated while on active military duty), according to the severity of
the disability. VBA‘s pension program pays monthly benefits to wartime
veterans who have low incomes and are permanently and totally disabled
for reasons not service-connected.[Footnote 2] In addition, VBA pays
dependency and indemnity compensation to some deceased veterans‘
spouses, children, and parents. In fiscal year 2001, VBA paid over $20
billion in disability compensation to about 2.3 million veterans and
over 300,000 survivors. VBA also paid over $3 billion in pensions to
over 600,000 veterans and survivors.
Veterans may submit their disability claims to any of VBA‘s 57 regional
offices, which process these claims in accordance with VBA regulations,
policies, procedures, and guidance. Regional offices assist veterans in
obtaining evidence to support their claims. This assistance includes
helping veterans obtain the following documents: records of service to
identify when the veteran served, records of medical treatment provided
while the veteran was in military service, records of treatment and
examinations provided at VA health-care facilities, and records of
treatment of the veteran by nonfederal providers. Also, if necessary
for decision on a claim, the regional office arranges for the veteran
to receive a medical examination or opinion. Once this evidence is
collected, VBA makes a rating decision on the claim. Veterans with
multiple disabilities receive a single composite rating.[Footnote 3]
For pension claims, VBA determines whether the veteran meets certain
criteria.[Footnote 4] The regional office then notifies the veteran of
its decision.
In May 2001, the Secretary created the VA Claims Processing Task Force
to develop recommendations to improve the compensation and pension
claims process and to help VBA improve claims processing timeliness and
productivity. The task force observed that the work management system
in many VBA regional offices contributed to inefficiency and an
increased number of errors. The task force attributed these problems
primarily to the broad scope of duties performed by regional office
staff--in particular, veterans service representatives (VSR). For
example, VSRs were responsible for both collecting evidence to support
claims and answering claimants‘ inquiries. In October 2001, the task
force made short-and medium-term recommendations for improving the
claims process and reorganizing regional office operations. In
particular, the task force recommended that VBA change its claims
processing system to one that utilizes specialized teams. VBA is in the
process of implementing many of these recommendations and has
established a new claims processing structure that is organized by
specific steps in the claims process. For example, regional offices
will have teams devoted specifically to claims development, that is,
obtaining evidence needed to evaluate claims.
VBA‘s Key Timeliness Measure Does Not Clearly Reflect Its Performance:
VBA‘s key timeliness measure does not clearly reflect its timeliness in
completing claims because it fails to distinguish among its three
disability programs--disability compensation, pension, and dependence
and indemnity compensation. The programs‘ processing times differ, in
part because they have different purposes, beneficiaries, eligibility
criteria, and evidence requirements to decide each type of claim.
Despite these differences, VBA sets an annual performance goal that is
an average of all three programs.
For the purposes of reporting its performance to the Congress and other
stakeholders, VBA adopted one key timeliness measure--the average time
to complete decisions on rating-related cases.[Footnote 5] This measure
includes original and reopened disability compensation, pension, and
dependency and indemnity compensation claims--in other words, claims
for three VBA compensation and pension programs.[Footnote 6] VBA sets
an annual goal for average days to complete rating-related cases in
VA‘s annual performance plans and subsequently reports its actual
timeliness--and whether it met its goal--in VA‘s annual performance
reports to the Congress.
This one measure does not reflect the differences in the timeliness for
the three programs. In general, the disability compensation program
requires the most evidence and thus these claims generally take longer
to complete, as shown in figure 1. While VBA‘s average fiscal year 2002
timeliness was 223 days, disability compensation decisions (which
represented about
83 percent of total decisions) took almost twice as long to complete as
pension decisions. The aggregate measure understated the time required
to decide disability compensation claims by 18 days and overstated the
time to decide pension claims by 97 days and dependency and indemnity
compensation claims by 51 days.
Figure 1: Average Days to Complete Rating-Related Cases, Fiscal Year
2002, by Program:
[See PDF for image]
Note: Compensation includes some reopened dependency and indemnity
compensation claims and VBA actions that can lead to adjustments in
disability compensation ratings.
[End of figure]
Each program has a different claims processing time frame because each
has different evidence requirements resulting from their different
purposes and eligibility requirements. For example, a major reason why
disability compensation claims take longer is that VBA must not only
establish that each claimed disability exists, but that each was caused
or aggravated by the veteran‘s military service. This process requires
substantial evidence gathering, with VBA actively assisting the
claimant. To prove service-connection, VBA obtains the veteran‘s
service medical records and may request medical examinations and
treatment records from VA medical facilities. In contrast, pension
claims do not require evidence that the claimed disabilities were
service-connected. Also, veterans aged 65 and older do not have to
prove that they are disabled to receive pension benefits as long as
they meet the income and military service requirements.
VBA Does Not Have Adequate Data to Measure Timeliness
of Claims Processing Teams, but Is Making Progress:
VBA does not yet have adequate data to measure timeliness or set goals
for its specialized regional office teams but is making progress in
obtaining complete and accurate data. While VBA is in the process of
developing performance measures and goals for these teams and has
developed a system to report timeliness data, it acknowledges that the
quality of its existing timeliness data needs to be improved.
Implementation of the task force recommendations to reorganize claims
processing requires that VBA measure its performance for its teams.
Where teams were once responsible for processing claims from receipt to
completion, teams are now responsible for specific phases of the
process. With complete and accurate data, VBA will be able to measure
the timeliness of the individual teams and, therefore, will be able to
hold them accountable for their performance as well as identify
processing delays and take corrective actions. VBA expects to be able
to obtain more complete and accurate data to measure team performance
once it deploys new software applications that should enable it to
consistently capture data for all cases and will rely less on manual
data entry. VBA expects these applications to be fully deployed by
October 2003.
The task force recommended that regional office Veterans Service
Centers (VSC), which process compensation and pension claims, be
reorganized into specialized teams. The task force identified six types
of teams--triage, pre-determination, rating, post-determination,
appeals, and public contact--based on different phases of the claims
process. From February through April 2002, VBA piloted its CPI
initiative, which included reorganizing regional offices‘ VSCs into
specialized teams at four regional offices. The CPI task team noted
that processing teams needed clearly defined and reasonable performance
expectations and recommended timeliness measures for each team, as
shown in table 1. VBA began to implement the CPI model at its other
regional offices in July 2002.
Table 1: Claims Processing Teams and Related Timeliness Measures:
Team: Triage; Description: Reviews, controls, processes, and routes all
incoming mail. If claim can be resolved at once without a claims
folder, the triage team does so.; Measures: Average control time--time
from date claim received to date claim is established in VBA‘s claims
processing information system..
Team: Pre-determination; Description: Develops claims. Tasks include
requesting and obtaining all evidence needed to support a claim.;
Measures: Average days to initiate development.; Average days to
complete development..
Team: Rating; Description: Makes decisions on rating-related claims.;
Measures: Days from the date the claim is certified ready to rate to
the date the rating is prepared..
Team: Post-determination; Description: Approves the establishment of
benefits, authorizes payments to beneficiaries, and notifies claimants
of VBA‘s decisions.; Measures: Days from completion of the rating
decision to the authorization of benefits..
Team: Appeals; Description: Processes appeals and remands of regional
office decisions.; Measures: Number of appeals correctly certified to
the Board of Veterans Appeals..
Team: Public contact; Description: Answers telephone and in-person
inquiries and refers claims to triage and informs veterans of the
status of their claims.; Measures: Days to complete routine
correspondence.; Days to complete special correspondence (e.g.,
responses to congressional inquiries)..
Source: Veterans Benefits Administration.
[End of table]
VBA has implemented an inventory management system (IMS) that allows it
to measure and report team timeliness, nationally and at the regional
office level. This system should provide VBA with the necessary data to
develop annual performance goals, which can be used to hold itself and
its regional offices accountable for improving timeliness. IMS should
also provide useful data to assist VBA management with identifying
problems in specific regional offices and allowing regional office
management to identify problems with specific teams for further
analysis and corrective actions.
However, VBA acknowledges that its IMS reports are not as useful as
they can be, because IMS receives incomplete data from an existing VBA
system--the Claims Automated Processing System (CAPS). Not all regional
offices are fully using CAPS; thus, CAPS data that are sent to IMS are
incomplete. CAPS was not being used to collect timeliness data for all
cases; rather, it was used to provide regional office staff with
information on the status of cases expected to take more than 30 days
to process. In order to provide a short-term improvement in the
completeness of IMS data, in May 2001 VBA instructed regional offices
to ensure that certain data were consistently entered into CAPS; for
example, dates when evidence was requested and received. In May 2002,
VBA instructed regional offices to report on how fully they use CAPS
and to provide estimated timeframes for complete compliance with CAPS
data entry requirements. As of August 2002, VBA reported that about 81
percent of its pending cases had records in CAPS.[Footnote 7]
According to VBA officials, as the regional offices implement new
software applications, the ability of IMS to provide complete and
accurate timeliness reports is expected to improve. For example, Share,
the new claims establishment application, will automatically input data
on a case into other applications, including CAPS. This will help
ensure more complete and consistent data in the short term, because
there will be a CAPS record for each case. Eventually, the Modern Award
Processing-Development (MAP-D) application will replace CAPS as a
source of timeliness data for IMS. MAP-D will, according to VBA
officials, contain records for all cases and will reduce the amount of
manual data entry required, thus reducing the potential for data input
errors. VBA plans to have all regional offices using Share and MAP-D by
October 2003.
Conclusions:
VBA has chosen to use one aggregate performance measure for timeliness
for its disability compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity
compensation programs. Such a measure does not reflect VBA‘s
performance for programs with different purposes, beneficiaries, and
claims processing requirements. In particular, VBA‘s timeliness in
deciding disability compensation claims is assessed under a measure
that also covers pension and dependency and indemnity compensation
claims, which take much less time. Consequently, the aggregate measure
can make the processing time for VBA‘s largest and most time-consuming
workload look better than it really is. As long as VBA uses an
aggregate timeliness measure, it will not be able to clearly
demonstrate to the Congress, top VA management, and claimants how well
it is meeting its objectives to serve disabled veterans and their
families.
VBA‘s reorganization of its regional office compensation and pension
claims processing operations into specialized teams underscores the
need for complete and accurate data on the timeliness of the phases of
the claims process. VBA does not yet have adequate data for timeliness
measurement purposes but is making progress in ensuring that it does.
Once VBA has deployed its new claims processing software applications
at all of its regional offices, it expects to be able to better measure
the timeliness of its specialized teams, provide baselines for future
comparisons, quantify team performance goals, and identify problems
needing corrective action. In this way, local and team-specific
information can be used to hold regional offices and their specialized
teams accountable for improving timeliness.
Recommendation:
We recommend that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs direct the Under
Secretary for Benefits to establish separate claims processing
timeliness goals for its three main disability programs, incorporate
these goals into VA‘s strategic plan and annual performance plans, and
report its progress in meeting these goals in its annual performance
reports.
Agency Comments and Our Response:
In its written comments on a draft of this report (see app. I), VA
concurred in principle with our recommendation. VA noted that VBA plans
to develop performance measures for each of its programs, as part of
VA‘s effort to restructure its budget. However, VA believes
establishing new goals by program should be deferred until at least
fiscal year 2005, because establishing new goals at this time risks
obscuring its focus on achieving the Secretary‘s 100-day goal by the
end of fiscal year 2003. We believe developing timeliness measures for
each program would not obscure VBA‘s focus on performance improvement,
but would provide a more accurate picture of claims processing
timeliness, because the new measures would reflect the differences
among the three programs. Because VBA already has the necessary data,
we believe that it should report timeliness by program for fiscal year
2004 and set goals by program for fiscal year 2005, at the latest.
VA also suggested that we based our calculations of average days to
complete disability compensation, pension, and dependency and indemnity
compensation decisions, as shown in figure 1, on original claims only.
We based our calculations on all eight types of claims (known as end
products) that VBA uses to calculate rating-related timeliness. These
end products include both original and reopened claims.
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 1 day
after its issue date. At that time, we will send copies of this report
to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, appropriate
congressional committees, and other interested parties. We will also
make copies of this report available to others on request. The report
will also be available at no charge on GAO‘s Web site at http://
www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any questions regarding this report, please
call me at (202) 512-7101 or Irene Chu, Assistant Director, at (202)
512-7102. In addition to those named, Susan Bernstein, Martin Scire,
and Greg Whitney made key contributions to this report.
Signed by Cynthia A. Bascetta:
Cynthia A. Bascetta
Director, Education, Workforce,
and Income Security Issues:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs:
THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
WASHINGTON:
Ms. Cynthia A. Bascetta
Director, Education, Workforce, and
Income Security Issues
U. S. General Accounting Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Ms. Bascetta:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reviewed your draft report,
VETERANS‘ BENEFITS: Claims Processing Timeliness Performance Measures
Could be Improved (GAO-03-282), and appreciates the opportunity to
comment.
GAO specifically recommends that the Veterans Benefits Administration
(VBA) establish separate claims processing timeliness goals for its
three main disability programs (compensation, pension, and dependency
and indemnity compensation); incorporate these goals into VA‘s
strategic plan and annual performance plans; and, report its progress
in meeting these goals in its annual performance report. VA concurs in
principle with this recommendation.
Our comments in the attached enclosure offer additional information to
clarify the Department‘s views. The enclosure addresses three items and
should facilitate ease of review.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft report.
Sincerely yours;
Signed by Anthony J. Principi:
Anthony J. Principi:
Enclosure:
The Department of Veterans Affairs‘ Comments to General Accounting
Office Draft Report (GAO-03-282) VETERANS‘ BENEFITS: Claims Processing
Timeliness Performance Measures Could be Improved:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed the draft report and
in response to GAO‘s recommendation offers three comments. They are:
VBA‘s Budget to Capture Total Cost and Performance:
Through an ongoing Departmental budgetary restructuring initiative,
VBA‘s budget is being reformatted to capture the total costs and
performance associated with each of its programs. As VBA evolves to
this new:
programmatic format, VBA will review and revise its strategic goals and
performance plans and measures accordingly. VBA officials plan to work
closely within the Department and with all VBA stakeholders to develop
and assign appropriate performance measures for all accounts. The
process has already begun with the submission of the FY 2004 budget.
Defer Establishment of New Strategic Goals:
Although VA concurs in principle with GAO‘s recommendation, VA believes
establishment of new strategic goals by program should be deferred to
at least FY 2005. This will allow VA to continue to focus resources on
achieving the Secretary‘s FY 2003 goals for improved Compensation and
Pension (C&P) performance. The Secretary established the goal of 100
days, on average, to process rating-related claims in connection with
the 2001 President‘s initiative to improve claims processing. In order
to ensure accountability, these current timeliness measures have been
incorporated into each Regional Office Director‘s performance
standards. Over the past year, timeliness and productivity improvements
have been achieved and the targets set by the Secretary are within
reach. Establishing new goals, at this time, runs the risk of obscuring
the focus on performance improvements.
Clarification of Data in Report:
VA noted some discrepancies in the data cited in the report. The
average number of days needed to process compensation, pension and
dependency and indemnity compensations claims appear to cover original
claims only. GAO may want to include data for supplemental claims and
claims for increased benefits to make the report more complete.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The other pilot sites were the Reno, Nevada, and Roanoke, Virginia,
regional offices.
[2] VBA also pays pensions to surviving spouses and unmarried children
of deceased wartime veterans.
[3] VA‘s ratings are in 10-percent increments, from 0 to 100 percent.
Generally, VA does not pay disability compensation for disabilities
rated at 0 percent. Basic monthly payments range from $103 for 10
percent disability to $2,163 for 100 percent disability.
[4] Veterans are eligible for pensions if they meet the following
criteria: (1) served in a period of war, (2) are permanently and
totally disabled for reasons not related to military service, and (3)
have incomes below VA‘s thresholds.
[5] VBA also reports the average number of days that rating-related
actions are pending. In fiscal year 2002, VBA‘s actual pending
timeliness was 174 days.
[6] Reopened claims are filed by a veteran who is already receiving
benefits, for example, a claim to increase a veteran‘s disability
rating. Reopened dependency and indemnity compensation claims are
counted with reopened disability compensation claims.
[7] Some regional offices reported more than 100 percent of pending
cases in CAPS. According to VBA officials, this is because the CAPS
record was not properly closed in every case.
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