Report Shows Columbia VA Did Poor Job Reviewing Veterans Disability Claims

As President Barack Obama signs a bill overhauling veterans benefits and healthcare into law, a new report shows that the Columbia Veterans Affairs regional office has done a poor job of reviewing veterans disability claims accurately and in a timely fashion.

“This will not and cannot be the end of our effort,” Obama said. “We have to make sure the VA system can keep pace with the new demands,” the President said as he signed the $16.3 million relief package into law. The money will help Veterans Affairs medical facilities all over the country hire new staff to eliminate the problem of wait lists and delayed treatment that has led to chronic illnesses, untreated mental disorders, and deaths of veterans for years. The federal funding will also create a new program to allow veterans to use their veterans benefits at private practitioners if the doctors’ offices are closer to them, or if they can get an appointment in 14 days or less – the ideal wait list time for VA hospitals and medical centers.

However, problems at Veterans Affairs medical centers are still being investigated, and South Carolina has its share. A report from the VA Office of the Inspector General, released on Thursday, August 7th, found that 36 of 89 veterans disability claims had processing errors. Many of the errors involved taking too long to review the veterans disability claims to determine if physical improvements could reduce the amount of the claim, which cost the VA a significant amount of money.

One extreme case involved a veteran being treated for prostate cancer. A reminder popped up in the VA hospital system in 2010 to reexamine his claim, but he was not reevaluated until 2014. That resulted in the veteran’s benefits being overpaid by $68,935 over 35 months.

The VA Inspector recommended putting a system in place to better train veterans disability claims reviewers, and hire more staff to process the claims more quickly. With the new VA funding bill in place, the South Carolina VA system should be able to improve wait times and veterans disability claims processing.

The Columbia VA office said the timeliness problems were related to work load, and that they should have the backlog of veterans disability claims eliminated by the end of the year.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with VA Wrongful Death and Delayed Treatment Cases

The mistreatment of Veterans in unacceptable. The Veterans Benefit Lawyers at the Strom Law Firm, L.L.C. work with veterans to file claims for a variety of disabilities and can assist you in filing your claims with the Veterans Administration. Veterans Disability can be complex.  Not understanding the basics and not having counsel may leave you in a bind.  We understand that you and your family need your benefits.  We will put our years of experience to work for you to ensure that you have the representation necessary to actively pursue your claim. Call the Veterans Benefits Attorneys at the Strom Law Firm today to discuss your case. We will be glad to discuss any questions you may have during our free, confidential discussion. Call the attorneys at the Strom Law Firm at (803) 252-4800.