{"id":77336,"date":"2024-08-01T20:16:14","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T20:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/08\/01\/va-claim-errors-result-in-100-million-in-incorrect-payments-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:31:22","slug":"va-claim-errors-result-in-100-million-in-incorrect-payments-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/08\/01\/va-claim-errors-result-in-100-million-in-incorrect-payments-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"VA claim errors result in $100 million in incorrect payments: watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mistakes by employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs while processing claims for veterans rated as 100% disabled resulted in around $100 million in improper monthly compensation payments, according to a July report<\/a> from the VA Office of Inspector General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roughly $9.8 million in overpayments and about $84.7 million in underpayments to impacted veterans occurred as a result of claims processors not consistently following policies and procedures, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rating of 100% for compensation may be assigned even when the overall disability rating is less than 100%, but the veteran is considered to be unable to get and maintain a job due to service-connected disabilities, the report noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The watchdog team reviewed statistical samples and estimated that 74% of claims granted for those with that disability compensation rating, and 76% of those denied, between May 2022 and April 2023 had at least one claims processing error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the Veterans Benefits Administration, the department\u2019s agency which handles the complex financial disbursements, is processing veterans\u2019 claims effectively enough served as the subject of a House panel meeting last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have taken corrective action on 95% of all of the cases identified in that report. We should have the remainder done here shortly,\u201d Ronald Burke Jr., the deputy undersecretary for policy and oversight at VBA, said during the hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VA watchdog report made several recommendations to improve accuracy in individual unemployability claims decisions, including updating guidance, enhancing information systems, improving training and evaluating workload distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person training has been replaced with virtual training that does not provide the tools needed for processors to succeed, according to Linda Parker-Cooks, from the union American Federation of Government Employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\t