Review of Accuracy of Reported Pending Disability Claims Backlog Statistics

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA’s) statistics related to pending disability claims to determine if it accurately reported its claims backlog. For reporting, VBA defines its backlog as rating claims pending greater than 125 days. VBA reported it had reduced its claims backlog from a peak of 611,000 in March 2013 to 70,537 at the end of May 2018. However, in earlier reports, the OIG identified instances in which VBA created new policies that resulted in unreliable performance measures, or that VBA staff took incorrect actions that misrepresented workload statistics. In this review, the OIG found that VBA’s reported backlog did not include all claims from October 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, that were awaiting rating decisions for more than 125 days. The OIG estimated VBA completed about 63,600 of these claims that were not counted as part of the backlog. As a result, the OIG estimated that, in its completed backlog, VBA only reported about 79 percent of the claims that required rating decisions that took over 125 days. Although VBA has reported significant reductions in its backlog, the OIG found that what the backlog represented was not always clearly defined, possibly resulting in significant understating. Also, VBA’s prioritization of its backlog resulted in delays in processing other claims, even if they were older and required rating decisions. Finally, inaccurate claims characteristics impaired VBA’s ability to manage its workload causing even further processing delays. The OIG recommended the Under Secretary for Benefits consider revising which claims are included in VBA’s reported disability claims backlog and provide a clear definition to all stakeholders. In addition, the OIG recommended the Under Secretary for Benefits implement a plan to provide consistent oversight and training of Claims Assistants through national performance and training plans.