The Department of Veterans Affairs has recently made significant progress in reducing its huge backlog of claims for disability compensation.<\/p>\n
Since it peaked in March 2013, the backlog has been reduced from 611,000 to just under 401,000 \u2014 a 34 percent decrease. The agency also reported that it has concurrently increased its decision accuracy. The three-month average accuracy rate for complete claim files stands at 90 percent, an improvement of five percentage points and seven percentage points over the accuracy rates for 2011 and 2010, respectively. <\/p>\n
In April 2013, the VA announced an initiative to expedite decisions on claims that had been pending for more than one year. The following month, the agency mandated 20 hours of overtime per month for all claims processors through the end of 2013. If funding permits, the VA anticipates a continuation of the mandatory overtime policy into 2014.<\/p>\n
Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, reiterated the agency’s (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Department of Veterans Affairs has recently made significant progress in reducing its huge backlog of claims for disability compensation. Since it peaked in March 2013, the backlog has been reduced from 611,000 to just under 401,000 \u2014 a 34…<\/span><\/p>\n