Vocational Rehabilitation
VA Has Opportunities to Improve Services, but Faces Significant Challenges Gao ID: GAO-05-572T April 20, 2005The Department of Veterans Affairs' Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program has taken on heightened importance due, in large measure, to the number of servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with serious injuries and their need for vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance. This statement draws on over 20 years of GAO's reporting on VA's provision of vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance to American veterans and focuses primarily on the results of two recent GAO reports. The first, issued in June 2004, commented on the report of the VA-sponsored VR&E Task Force, which performed a comprehensive review of VR&E activities and made extensive recommendations that, if implemented, would affect virtually every aspect of VR&E's operations. The second, issued in January 2005, focused on the steps VA has taken and the challenges it faces in providing services to seriously injured veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The past year has presented the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with an unprecedented opportunity to begin strengthening its provision of vocational rehabilitation and employment services to veterans. The VR&E Task Force has developed a blueprint for the changes needed to improve numerous programmatic and managerial aspects of VR&E's operations. We generally agree with the Task Force's three key findings. We also generally agree with the Task Force's key recommendations to streamline eligibility and entitlement, institute a new employment-driven service delivery process, expand counseling benefits, reorganize and increase VR&E staffing, and improve information technology capabilities and intra- and inter-agency coordination. VR&E faces three overriding challenges as it responds to the Task Force recommendations. First, providing early intervention assistance to injured servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq is complicated by (1) differences and uncertainties in the recovery process, which make it difficult for VR&E to determine when a servicemember will be able to consider its services; (2) the Department of Defense's (DOD) concerns that VA's outreach could work at cross purposes to the military's retention goals; and (3) lack of access to DOD data that would allow VA to readily identify and locate all seriously injured servicemembers. Second, VR&E needs to upgrade its information technology system. The Task Force report pointed out that VR&E's IT system is limited in its ability to produce useful reports. Third, VR&E needs to use new results-based criteria to evaluate and improve performance. The Task Force recommended that VR&E develop a new employment-oriented performance measurement system, including measures of sustained employment longer than 60 days. In fiscal year 2004, VR&E included four employment-based performance criteria in its performance and accountability report. However, as of February 2005, VR&E had not yet reported results using these longer-term measures.
GAO-05-572T, Vocational Rehabilitation: VA Has Opportunities to Improve Services, but Faces Significant Challenges
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, Committee on Veterans'
Affairs, House of Representatives:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 2:00 p.m. EDT:
Wednesday, April 20, 2005:
Vocational Rehabilitation:
VA Has Opportunities to Improve Services, but Faces Significant
Challenges:
Statement of Cynthia A. Bascetta, Director, Education, Workforce, and
Income Security:
GAO-05-572T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-05-572T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on
Economic Opportunity, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of
Representatives:
Why GAO Did This Study:
The Department of Veterans Affairs‘ Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment (VR&E) program has taken on heightened importance due, in
large measure, to the number of servicemembers returning from
Afghanistan and Iraq with serious injuries and their need for
vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance. This statement
draws on over 20 years of GAO‘s reporting on VA‘s provision of
vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance to American
veterans and focuses primarily on the results of two recent GAO
reports. The first, issued in June 2004, commented on the report of the
VA-sponsored VR&E Task Force, which performed a comprehensive review of
VR&E activities and made extensive recommendations that, if
implemented, would affect virtually every aspect of VR&E‘s operations.
The second, issued in January 2005, focused on the steps VA has taken
and the challenges it faces in providing services to seriously injured
veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
What GAO Found:
The past year has presented the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
with an unprecedented opportunity to begin strengthening its provision
of vocational rehabilitation and employment services to veterans. The
VR&E Task Force has developed a blueprint for the changes needed to
improve numerous programmatic and managerial aspects of VR&E‘s
operations. We generally agree with the Task Force‘s three key findings.
Key VR&E Task Force Findings:
Finding #1: VR&E has not been a VA priority in terms of returning
veterans with service-connected disabilities to the workforce.
Finding #2: VR&E has limited capacity to manage its growing workload.
Finding #3: The VR&E system must be redesigned for the 21st century
employment environment.
[End of table]
We also generally agree with the Task Force‘s key recommendations to
streamline eligibility and entitlement, institute a new employment-
driven service delivery process, expand counseling benefits, reorganize
and increase VR&E staffing, and improve information technology
capabilities and intra-and inter-agency coordination.
VR&E faces three overriding challenges as it responds to the Task Force
recommendations. First, providing early intervention assistance to
injured servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq is
complicated by
* differences and uncertainties in the recovery process, which make it
difficult for VR&E to determine when a servicemember will be able to
consider its services;
* the Department of Defense‘s (DOD) concerns that VA‘s outreach could
work at cross purposes to the military‘s retention goals; and
* lack of access to DOD data that would allow VA to readily identify
and locate all seriously injured servicemembers.
Second, VR&E needs to upgrade its information technology system. The
Task Force report pointed out that VR&E‘s IT system is limited in its
ability to produce useful reports. Third, VR&E needs to use new results-
based criteria to evaluate and improve performance. The Task Force
recommended that VR&E develop a new employment-oriented performance
measurement system, including measures of sustained employment longer
than 60 days. In fiscal year 2004, VR&E included four employment-based
performance criteria in its performance and accountability report.
However, as of February 2005, VR&E had not yet reported results using
these longer-term measures.
What GAO Recommends:
This statement contains no recommendations.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-572T.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Cynthia A. Bascetta at
(202) 512-7215 or bascettac@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
We are pleased to be here today to provide our views on efforts of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help disabled veterans obtain
suitable employment through its Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment (VR&E) program. This program is crucial to helping veterans
with disabilities caused or aggravated by their service in the military
obtain and maintain employment, especially now as servicemembers return
from Afghanistan and Iraq. Further, at a time when the American
workforce is shrinking, the importance of VA's VR&E program and other
federal programs that help individuals with disabilities return to work
is paramount. For this and other reasons, we have designated federal
disability programs, including VR&E, as "high risk."[Footnote 1]
In 2003, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs established a VR&E Task
Force[Footnote 2] to conduct an independent review of the agency's VR&E
program and make recommendations for improving its operation. At the
time, there were concerns regarding the management of the program.
These concerns included, among other things, the program's continued
focus on education rather than employment, the time it took
participants to become rehabilitated, and the program's poor track
record for helping disabled veterans find suitable employment.
As you requested, my comments are focused on GAO's views about key VR&E
Task Force findings and recommendations and challenges that the program
currently faces in meeting the needs of disabled veterans. My statement
is based largely on prior GAO reports and testimonies. Since 1984, we
have reported on the operation of VA's VR&E program, the VR&E Task
Force findings and recommendations, and VA's efforts to provide
vocational rehabilitation services to injured servicemembers returning
from Afghanistan and Iraq. We did our work in accordance with generally
accepted government auditing standards.
In summary, GAO's past work and the recent Task Force report point to
the need for VR&E to increase its emphasis on finding jobs for veterans
with disabilities and managing its operations. We reported as early as
1984[Footnote 3] that the VR&E program primarily focused on training
veterans and not finding them suitable employment. Twenty years later,
the Task Force reached similar conclusions and recommended most notably
that VR&E institute an employment-driven system for providing services
to veterans that would re-emphasize the importance of employment. We
noted that implementing a system focused on employment would require a
cultural shift away from VR&E's long-standing emphasis on education.
[Footnote 4] VR&E would also need to overcome the incentive for
veterans to use its education benefits, which provide more financial
assistance than those available though other VA education benefits
programs. While we generally agreed with the Task Force findings and
recommendations, we also reported that VR&E faces three important
challenges. First, although intervening early after a disabling injury
increases the likelihood that a disabled veteran would return to work,
VA faces significant challenges in expediting VR&E services to
seriously injured servicemembers. We recommended in January 2005 that
VA improve its efforts to expedite services for veterans returning from
Afghanistan and Iraq and improve its policies and procedures to ensure
that veterans obtain the services they need, which VA is in the process
of doing. In addition, VR&E at this time does not have the information
technology systems needed to properly manage its operations.
Furthermore, it has just begun to initiate the process of using results-
based criteria to measure success; that is, whether its services help
veterans with disabilities achieve sustained employment.
Background:
Since the 1940s, VA has provided vocational rehabilitation assistance
to veterans with service-connected disabilities to help them find
meaningful work and achieve maximum independence in daily living. In
1980, the Congress enacted the Veterans' Rehabilitation and Education
Amendments, which changed the focus of VA's vocational rehabilitation
program from providing primarily training aimed at improving the
employability of disabled veterans to helping them find and maintain
suitable jobs. VA estimates that in fiscal year 2004 it spent more than
$670 million on its VR&E program to serve about 73,000 participants.
This amount represents about 2 percent of VA's $37 billion budget for
nonmedical benefits, most of which involves cash compensation for
service connected disabilities.
VR&E services include vocational counseling, evaluation, and training
that can include payment for tuition and other expenses for education,
as well as job placement assistance. Interested veterans generally
apply for VR&E services after they have applied and qualified for
disability compensation based on a rating of their service-connected
disability. This disability rating--ranging from 0 to 100 percent in 10
percent increments--entitles veterans to monthly cash payments based on
their average loss in earning capacity resulting from a service-
connected injury or combination of injuries. To be entitled to VR&E
services, veterans with disabilities generally must have a 20 percent
disability rating and an employment handicap as determined by a
vocational rehabilitation counselor. Although cash compensation is not
available to servicemembers until after they separate from the
military, they can receive VR&E services prior to separation under
certain circumstances.[Footnote 5] To make these services available
prior to discharge, VA expedites the determination of eligibility for
VR&E by granting a preliminary rating, known as a memorandum rating.
Implementing Task Force Recommendations Should Improve VR&E Services:
We generally agree with the Task Force's key findings, which broadly
address three areas of VR&E's operations. (See table 1.)
Table 1: Key VR&E Task Force Findings:
Finding #1: VR&E has not been a VA priority in terms of returning
veterans with service-connected disabilities to the workforce.
Finding #2: VR&E has limited capacity to manage its growing workload.
Finding #3: The VR&E system must be redesigned for the 21st century
employment environment.
Source: GAO.
[End of table]
First, the Task Force found that VR&E has not been a priority in terms
of returning veterans with service-connected disabilities to the
workforce. Between 1984 and 1998, we issued three reports all of which
found that the VR&E program had not emphasized its mandate to find jobs
for disabled veterans. In 1992,[Footnote 6] we found that over 90
percent of eligible veterans went directly into education programs,
while less than 3 percent went into the employment services phase. We
also found that VA placed few veterans in suitable jobs. We reported in
1996[Footnote 7] that VA rehabilitated less than 10 percent of veterans
found eligible for vocational rehabilitation services and recommended
switching the focus to obtaining suitable employment for disabled
veterans. VA program officials told us that staff focused on providing
training services because, among other reasons, the staff was not
prepared to provide employment services because it lacked adequate
training and expertise in job placement. Years later, the Task Force
similarly reported that top VR&E management had not demonstrated a
commitment to providing employment services and lacked the staffing and
skill resources at the regional offices to provide these services.
The Task Force also found that VR&E has a limited capacity to manage
its growing workload. The Task Force had concerns about, among other
things, VR&E's organizational, program, and fiscal accountability;
workforce and workload management; information and systems technology;
and performance measures. In our report on the Task Force, we stated
that, although we have not specifically reviewed VR&E's capacity to
manage its workload, we agree that many of the VR&E management systems
identified by the Task Force as needing improvement are fundamental to
the proper functioning of federal programs, regardless of workload.
In addition, the Task Force found that the VR&E system must be
redesigned for the 21st century employment environment. The Task Force
reported that the VR&E program does not reflect the dynamic nature of
the economic environment and constant changes in the labor market. The
report suggested that, as a result, only about 10 percent of veterans
participating in the VR&E program had obtained employment. We agree
with the Task Force finding that the VR&E system needs to be
modernized. Our high risk report emphasized that outmoded criteria used
to establish eligibility need to be updated.
The Task Force made 105 recommendations, which we grouped into six
categories. (See table 2.) The first category of recommendations was
directed at streamlining VR&E program eligibility and entitlement for
veterans in most critical need, including (1) servicemembers who have
been medically discharged or are pending medical discharge; (2)
veterans with a combined service-connected disability rating of 50
percent or greater; and (3) veterans receiving compensation for the
loss, or loss of the use, of a limb. In our report, we commented that,
among other things, VA's outmoded disability criteria raise questions
about the validity of its disability decisions because medical
conditions alone are generally poor predictors of work incapacity. For
example, advances in prosthetics and technology for workplace
accommodations can enhance work capacity by compensating for
impairments. As a result, the Task Force recommendation to focus on
severity of disability rather than on employability may not ensure that
veterans with the most severe employment handicaps receive priority
services from VR&E.
Table 2: Key VR&E Task Force Recommendations:
Category: #1;
Recommendation: Streamline eligibility and entitlement for those
veterans in most critical need.
Category: #2;
Recommendation: Replace the current VR&E process with a 5-track
employment-driven service delivery process.
Category: #3;
Recommendation: Expand counseling benefits to provide VR&E services to
pre-discharge servicemembers and post-discharge service members.
Category: #4;
Recommendation: Reorganize VR&E and increase staffing.
Category: #5;
Recommendation: Improve the capacity of the information technology
systems.
Category: #6;
Recommendation: Improve intra-and interagency coordination.
Source: GAO.
[End of table]
Second, the Task Force sought to replace the current VR&E process with
a 5-track employment-driven service delivery system. The five tracks
include rapid access employment for veterans with skills, self-
employment, re-employment at a job held before military service,
traditional vocational rehabilitation services and, when employment is
not a viable option, independent living services.[Footnote 8] We
commented that the 5-track process could help VR&E focus on employment
while permitting the agency to assist veterans less likely to obtain
gainful employment on their own. We added, however, that the new system
would require a cultural shift from the program's current emphasis on
long-term education to more rapid employment. We also observed that, as
long as the education benefits available under VR&E provide more
financial assistance than those available through other VA educational
benefits programs, eligible veterans will have strong incentives to
continue to use VR&E to pursue their education goals.
Third, the Task Force recommended that VR&E expand counseling benefits
to provide VR&E services to servicemembers before they are discharged
and to veterans who have already transitioned out of the military. We
agreed that providing vocational and employment counseling prior to
military discharge is essential to enable disabled servicemembers to
access VR&E services as quickly as possible after they are discharged.
In prior reports, we highlighted the importance of early intervention
efforts to promote and facilitate return to the workplace. In 1996, for
example, we reported research findings that rehabilitation offered as
close as possible to the onset of disabling impairments has the
greatest likelihood of success. [Footnote 9] In addition, receptiveness
to participate in rehabilitation and job placement activities can
decline after extended absence from work.
Fourth, the Task Force made several recommendations directed at
redesigning the VR&E central office to provide greater oversight of
regional office operations and to increase staff and skill sets to
reflect the new focus on employment. We agreed that program
accountability could be enhanced through more central office oversight.
We pointed out that, over the past 3 years, VA Inspector General
reports had identified VR&E programs at regional offices that did not
adhere to policies and procedures and sometimes circumvented
accountability mechanisms, such as those for managing and monitoring
veterans' cases and those requiring the development of sound plans
prior to approving purchases for those veterans seeking self-
employment. [Footnote 10]
Fifth, the Task Force recommended that VR&E improve the capacity of its
information technology systems. Many of the Task Force's
recommendations in this area are consistent with GAO's governmentwide
work reporting that agencies need to strengthen strategic planning and
investment management in information technology. In addition, we
recognized that VR&E would benefit from a more systematic analysis of
current information technology systems before making further investment
in its current systems.
Finally, the Task Force recommended that VR&E strengthen coordination
within VA between VR&E and the Veterans Health Administration, and
between VR&E and the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Labor.[Footnote
11] Improving coordination with agencies that have a role in assisting
disabled veterans make the transition to civilian employment should
help these agencies more efficiently use federal resources to enhance
the employment prospects of disabled veterans.
VA Continues to Face Significant Challenges in Improving Its VR&E
Program:
While VR&E responds to the Task Force recommendations, it faces
immediate challenges associated with providing vocational
rehabilitation and employment services to injured servicemembers
returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. As we reported in January
2005,[Footnote 12] VR&E is challenged by the need to provide services
on an early intervention basis; that is, expedited assistance provided
on a high priority basis. VR&E also lacks the information technology
systems needed to manage the provision of services to these
servicemembers and to veterans. In addition, VR&E is only now beginning
to use results-based criteria for measuring its success in assisting
veterans achieve sustained employment.
VR&E Challenged to Provide Services as Early as Possible:
VR&E faces significant challenges in expediting services to disabled
servicemembers. An inherent challenge is that individual differences
and uncertainties in the recovery process make it difficult to
determine when a seriously injured service member will be able to
consider VR&E services. Additionally, as we reported in our January
2005 report, given that VA is conducting outreach to servicemembers
whose discharge from military service is not yet certain, VA is
challenged by DOD's concerns that VA's outreach about benefits,
including early intervention with VR&E services, could adversely affect
the military's retention goals. Finally, VA is currently challenged by
a lack of access to DOD data that would, at a minimum, allow the agency
to readily identify and locate all seriously injured servicemembers. VA
officials we interviewed both in the regional offices and at central
office reported that this information would provide them with a more
reliable way to identify and monitor the progress of those
servicemembers with serious injuries. However, DOD officials cited
privacy concerns about the type of information VA had requested.
Our January 2005 report found that VR&E could enhance employment
outcomes for disabled servicemembers, especially if services could be
provided early in the recovery process. Unlike previous conflicts, a
greater portion of servicemembers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq are
surviving their injuries--due, in part, to advanced protective
equipment and in-theater medical treatment. Consequently, VR&E has
greater opportunity to assist servicemembers in overcoming their
impairments. While medical and technological advances are making it
possible for some of these disabled servicemembers to return to
military occupations, others will transition to veteran status and seek
employment in the civilian economy. According to DOD officials, once
stabilized and discharged from the hospital, servicemembers usually
relocate to be closer to their homes or military bases and be treated
as outpatients by the closest VA or military hospital. At this point,
the military generally begins to assess whether the servicemember will
be able to remain in the military--a process that could take months to
complete. The process could take even longer if servicemembers appeal
the military's initial disability decision.
We also reported that VA had taken steps to expedite VR&E services for
seriously injured servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Specifically, VA instructed its regional offices to make seriously
injured servicemembers a high priority for all VA assistance. Because
the most seriously injured servicemembers are initially treated at
major military treatment facilities, VA also deployed staff to these
sites to provide information on VA benefits programs, including VR&E
services to servicemembers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Moreover,
to better ensure the identification and monitoring of all seriously
injured servicemembers, VA initiated a memorandum of agreement
proposing that DOD systematically provide information on those
servicemembers, including their names, location, and medical condition.
Pending an agreement, VA instructed its regional offices to establish
local liaison with military medical treatment facilities in their areas
to learn who the seriously injured are, where they are located, and the
severity of their injuries. Reliance on local relationships, however,
has resulted in varying completeness and reliability of information. In
addition, we found that VA had no policy for VR&E staff to maintain
contact with seriously injured servicemembers who had not initially
applied for VR&E services. Nevertheless, some regional offices reported
efforts to maintain contact with these servicemembers, noting that some
who are not initially ready to consider employment when contacted about
VR&E services may be receptive at a future time.
To improve VA's efforts to expedite VR&E services, we recommended that
VA and DOD collaborate to reach an agreement for VA to have access to
information that both agencies agree is needed to promote
servicemembers' recovery to work. We also recommended that the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs direct that Under Secretary for Benefits
to develop a policy and procedures for regional offices to maintain
contact with seriously injured servicemembers who do not initially
apply for VR&E services, in order to ensure that they have the
opportunity to participate in the program when they are ready. Both VA
and DOD generally concurred with our findings and recommendations.
Outmoded Information Technology Systems Pose a Challenge:
GAO's governmentwide work has found that federal agencies need to
strengthen strategic planning and investment management in information
technology. The Task Force expressed particular concern that VR&E's
information technology systems are not up to the task of producing the
information and analyses needed to manage these and other activities.
The Task Force pointed out that VR&E's mission-critical automated case-
management system is based on a software application developed by four
VA regional offices in the early 1990s and redesigned to operate in the
Veterans Benefits Administration's information technology and network
environments.
The Task Force identified specific concerns with the operation of
VR&E's automated case management system. For example, 52 of VR&E's 138
out-based locations[Footnote 13] cannot efficiently use the automated
system because of VBA's policy to limit staff access to high-speed
computer lines. As a result of this policy, many VR&E locations use
dial-up modem capabilities, which can be unreliable and slow. The Task
Force concluded that VR&E's automated system is so intertwined with the
delivery of VR&E services that lack of reliable access and timely
system response has degraded staff productivity and its ability to
provide timely services to veterans.
In addition, the Task Force pointed out that the number of reports that
VR&E's automated case management system can generate is limited. For
example, workload data available from the automated system provide only
a snapshot of the veterans in the VR&E program at a given point in
time. The automated system cannot link a veteran's case status with the
fiscal year in which the veteran entered the program so that the
performance of veterans entering the program in a fiscal year can be
measured over a period of time. Also, the Task Force reported that VR&E
does not have the capabilities it needs to track the number of veterans
who drop out of the program or interrupt their rehabilitation plans.
VR&E Faces the Challenge of Developing Meaningful Outcome Measures:
VA faces the challenge of using results-oriented criteria to measure
the long-term success of the VR&E program. The Task Force recommended
that VR&E develop a new outcomes-based performance measurement system
to complement the proposed 5-track employment-driven service delivery
system. Currently, VR&E still identifies veterans as having been
successfully rehabilitated if they maintain gainful employment for 60
days. In its fiscal year 2004 performance and accountability report,
VR&E included four employment-based performance measures: the
percentage of participants employed during the first quarter (90 days)
after leaving the program, the percentage still employed after the
third quarter (270 days), the percentage change in earnings from pre-
application to post-program, and the average cost of placing a
participant in employment. However, as of February 2005, VR&E was still
in the process of developing data for these measures and had not
reported results.
Until VR&E is farther along in this process, it will continue to
measure performance using the 60-day criteria, which may not accurately
predict sustained employment over the long-term. In 1993,[Footnote 14]
we reported that the 60-day measure of success used by state vocational
rehabilitation agencies may not be rigorous enough because gains in
employment and earnings of clients who appeared to have been
successfully rehabilitated faded after 2 years.[Footnote 15] Moreover,
the earnings for many returned to pre-vocational rehabilitation level
after 8 years. As VR&E further develops its four employment-based
performance measures, it will also face challenges associated with
coordinating its efforts with those of other federal agencies,
including the Departments of Labor and Education, as they seek to
develop common measures[Footnote 16] of vocational rehabilitation
success.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I will be happy to
answer any questions that you or other Members of the Subcommittee may
have.
Contact and Acknowledgments:
For further information, please contact Cynthia A. Bascetta at (202)
512-7215. Also contributing to this statement were Irene Chu and Joseph
Natalicchio.
[End of section]
Related GAO Products:
VA Disability Benefits and Health Care: Providing Certain Services to
the Seriously Injured Poses Challenges (GAO-05-444T, Mar. 17, 2005):
Vocational Rehabilitation: More VA and DOD Collaboration Needed to
Expedite Services for Seriously Injured Servicemembers (GAO-05-167,
Jan. 14, 2005):
VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program: GAO Comments on
Key Task Force Findings and Recommendations (GAO-04-853, Jun. 15,
2004):
Vocational Rehabilitation: Opportunities to Improve Program
Effectiveness (GAO/T-HEHS-98-87, Feb. 4, 1998):
Veterans Benefits Administration: Focusing on Results in Vocational
Rehabilitation and Education Programs (GAO/T-HEHS-97-148, Jun. 5,
1997):
Vocational Rehabilitation: VA Continues to Place Few Disabled Veterans
in Jobs (GAO/HEHS-96-155, Sept. 3, 1996):
Vocational Rehabilitation: Evidence for Federal Program's Effectiveness
Is Mixed, (GAO/PEMD-93-19, Aug. 27, 1993):
Vocational Rehabilitation: VA Needs to Emphasize Serving Veterans With
Serious Employment Handicaps (GAO/HRD-92-133, Sept. 28, 1992):
VA Can Provide More Employment Assistance to Veterans Who Complete Its
Vocational Rehabilitation Program (GAO/HRD-84-39, May 23, 1984):
FOOTNOTES
[1] GAO, High Risk Series: An Update, GAO-05-207 (Washington, D.C.:
January 2005)
[2] VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Task Force, Report to
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs: The Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment Program for the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: March 2004)
[3] GAO, VA Can Provide More Employment Assistance to Veterans Who
Complete Its Vocational Rehabilitation Program, GAO/HRD-84-39
(Washington, D.C.: May 23, 1984).
[4] GAO, VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program: GAO
Comments on Key Task Force Findings and Recommendations, GAO-04-853
(Washington, D.C.: June 15, 2004).
[5] Hospitalized military personnel pending discharge may receive all
vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits--such as counseling,
evaluation, and training--except for the monthly subsistence allowance.
38 U.S.C. §§ 3102, 3104, and 3113.
[6] GAO, Vocational Rehabilitation: VA Needs to Emphasize Serving
Veterans With Serious Employment Handicaps, GAO/HRD-92-133 (Washington,
D.C.: Sept. 28, 1992)
[7] GAO, Vocational Rehabilitation: VA Continues to Place Few Disabled
Veterans in Jobs GAO/HEHS-96-155 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 3, 1996)
[8] The Independent Living program is tailored to the veteran whose
service-connected disability or disabilities or overall condition make
employment goals infeasible at the time of application. The program
might incorporate such devices or services as assistive technology,
Independent Living skills training, or connection to community-based
support services to improve quality of life with the possibility of
employment later.
[9] GAO, SSA Disability: Program Redesign Necessary to Encourage Return
to Work, GAO/HEHS-96-62 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 24, 1996).
[10] For recent examples, see Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of
Inspector General, Combined Assessment Program Review of the VA
Regional Office, Providence, Rhode Island, Report No.04-00731-110
(Washington, D.C.: March 24, 2005); Combined Assessment Program Review
of the VA Regional Office, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Report No. 04-
03200-96 (Washington, D.C.: March 3, 2005); and Combined Assessment
Program Review of the VA Regional Office, Indianapolis, Indiana, Report
No. 04-00603-65, (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 10, 2005).
[11] The Department of Labor provides vocational rehabilitation
services through Local Veterans' Employment Representatives and the
Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program.
[12] GAO, Vocational Rehabilitation: More VA and DOD Collaboration
Needed to Expedite Services for Seriously Injured Servicemembers, GAO-
05-167 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 14, 2005)
[13] VR&E has staff in locations other than VR&E central office and VA
regional offices. These out-based personnel may be located in
government buildings or in leased space.
[14] GAO, Vocational Rehabilitation: Evidence for Federal Program's
Effectiveness Is Mixed, GAO/PEMD-93-19 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 27, 1993)
[15] The Social Security Act states that people applying for disability
benefits should be promptly referred to state vocational rehabilitation
agencies for services in order to maximize the number of such
individuals who can return to productive activity. The 60-day measure
used by state agencies is less rigorous than the criterion used by the
Social Security Administration--9 continuous months of employment in
any substantial gainful activity.
[16] VR&E is working with the Office of Management and Budget and other
federal agencies to develop common measures of performance for
vocational rehabilitation.
