afge local 520 us house and senate committees 09-22-13

7/29/2019 AFGE Local 520 US House and Senate Committees 09-22-13

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VA Regional OfficeAFGE L O CAL 52 0PO BOX 1778CO LUMBIA, SC 29202September 22, 2013Chairmen, Ranking M embers, Members of the US House and Senate Comm ittees of VeteransAffairsDear Committee Members:Local 520, the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit of VARO Columbia, SC, wants toaddress the forgo tten 40+ transforma tion initiatives to im prove the claims process. Please referto the USB Rickey's testimony on June 19, 2012, at 02:49:00 HVAC webcast hearing onReclaiming th e Process: Examining the VBA Claims Transformation Plan as a Means toEffectively Service ou r Veterans fo r details regarding the transformation.Here is what VA have implemented so far, The New Challenge Training Course, The DisabilityBenefit Questionnaires (DBQs), Ac ceptable Clinical Evidence (AC E), The Specialized Lanes,Cross-Functional Teams, Rating Calculators and Evaluation Builders, Simplified NotificationLetters (SNL ), Contracting O ut of Claims D evelopment to a Xerox subsidiary AffiliatedComputer Services (ACS), Quality Review Teams (QRT), New Performance Standards, FullyDevelopment Claims to include new forms that include 5103 Notice, Fast Track of New AgentO range Presum ptions Claims, Issue based quality reviews, the resurrection of the FullyDeveloped Claims, E-benefits, a form for NO Ds and last but not least the savior - The V eteransBenefit Management System (VBMS).The Congress asked for a plan on June 19, 2012 , and there was none. Ano ther request w as madeon July 18, 2012, and the excuse that VA used for not presenting the plan was that the budgetnumbers had to be removed from it before it could be released. There was a third request onSeptember 20, 2012. O n January 25, 2013, VA published a 2 0 page VA Strategic Plan toEliminate the Claims Backlog.The GA O testified before the Senate V A Committee and said, "We have noted that VA'songoing efforts should be driven by a robust, co mprehensive plan; however w hen we reviewedV BA 's plan documents, we found that they fell short of established criteria for sound planning.Specifically, VBAprovided us with several documents, including a PowerPoint presentation anda m atrix that provided a high-level overview of over 40 initiatives, but, at the time of our review,could no t provide us with a robust plan that tied together the group of initiatives, their inter-relationships, and subsequent impac t on c laims and appeals processing times." GAO-13-453T,Mar 13, 2013The bottom line is the transformation plan was several documents and a power pointpresentation.


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How effective have these transformation initiatives been and how have they con tributed to theV BA progress? How does this line up with the USB's testimony on June 19, 2012?The Veterans Benefit Management System (VBMS) - O n June 12, 2013, Mr. ThomasMurphy, Director, Com pensation Services gave this testimony to the US Senate VA Com mittee,"There is no single system that is going to come in that will be a silver bullet - VBMS andmakeeverything work. VBMS if left alone without other change will just m ake a bad systemworst...." Pending Benefits Legislation, U S Senate Veterans Affairs Committee SR-418, June 12,2013 iSimplified Notification Letters (SNL) was implemented on March 12,2012. - SNLshiftedthe workload from Rating Veterans Service Representative (RVS R) to Veterans ServiceRepresentatives (VS R). A VSR who did not prepare the rating was charged w ith transcribingcodes and narratives in a notification letter. The VFW testified that after it raised seriousconcerns about SNL, and after VBA took action to address the issue there was 50 to 60% errorrate in April and May 2012 of the claims they reviewed.Moreover, the A tlanta V A RO piloted the SNL in June 2011. At that time, their claims inventorywas 32,941. As of July 23, 2012 their claims inventory was 32,415 (less than 2% decrease). Afar cry from the 15% claimed at the hearing by the USB on June 19, 2012. Her statementregarding SNL said, "Design-Team testing of this initiative at the Atlanta and St. Paul Regional Officeresulted in produc tivity increases of 15 percent, while sustaining accuracy rates, and reductions of 14 daysin average processing time."HVAC Hearing, Reclaiming the Process: Examining the VBA ClaimsTransformation Plan as a Means to Effectively Service ou r Veterans.The time wasted on training and implem entation of the SN L only set the claims processing bac k.It does not exist today.Th e New Challenge Training Course -The RV SR position is too complex to be grasped in 8weeks of training and the curriculum that is scheduled to be followed after returning to theVARO is always pre-empted because of production quotas.The Specialized Lanes - This is not a new concept. If the veterans are claiming moredisabilities per claim, then the express lane will quickly dry up. Furthermore, employees on thespecial operation lanes will quick ly burn out. There is also the issue of who will be assigned toeach lane and how will inexperienced employees receive the necessary training to becomeproficient in their jobs. Specialization has failed the VSR for the past decade of the CPI model.Cross Functional Teams - This concept did not work under Business Processing Reengineering(BPR) and it is not work ing now. The reason it did not work under BPR was because of thenumerous amount of tasks required to be accomplished by one employee.


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Quality Review Teams (QRT) - Locally, there is a problem when errors that are called areoverruled based on a manager's preference and on VA regulations and directives. Furtherm ore,the National STAR team uses a different criterion to call errors nationally than the QRT useslocally. The change to issue based quality reviews and the N ational criteria for reviewing claimsonly serves to boost VBA quality numbers.New Performance Standards - There has never been a time and motion study completed inVBA. If quality is measured by each issue of a claim why is production not and is still measuredby each individual claim? A t the hearing on June 19, 2012, Rep Michuad, now ranking m inoritymember, asked whether quality and production were measured the same. The answer is no. Thereasons are obvious - 98% quality by 2015 and to disadvantage employees when it comes toproduction. /Rating Calculators and Evaluation Builders continue to provide inaccurate information andwork arounds are becom ing normal and time consuming. What employee c an keep up with allthe changes?The Disability Benefit Questionnaires was implemented in earnest on March 16 , 2012. Itwas audited by the IG for private providers and the internal control process was been found to beinadequate. Furthermore, the DBQs can exceed 100 pages as VBA moves to a paperlessenvironment, and they have created more inadequate examinations because of their voluminouscontent. The VBA was supposed to fix the program to eliminate none essential information, bu tstill has not. Furthermore, why are Veterans paying for examinations? How many Veterans usethe private provider's DBQ? O ur experience shows that the volume of private providers' DBQis too small to make a difference.Acceptable Clinical Evidence (ACE) was implemented on October 3,2012. "VBA and VHAhave collaborated to implement the Acc eptable Clinical Evidence (A CE) program. Under ACE,VHA clinicians com plete a DBQ by reviewing existing paper and/or electronic m edical evidenceand can supplement it with inform ation obtained during a telephone interview w ith the Veteran.This alleviates the need for the Veteran to report to an in-person examination. The ACE processis not available for use by non-VHA Compensation and Pension (C& P) examiners, such as QTC,because those individuals do not have electronic access to V HA treatment records." Fast Letter12-22Contracting Out of Claims Developm ent to a Xerox subsidiary Affiliated ComputerServices (ACS) - "VBMAP is a professional services contract with ACSFederal Solution LLC(ACS), to address the claims backlog and advance the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)Transformation Vision. In conjunction with the Veterans Benefits Management System (VB MS)and Veterans Relationship Management (VRM ), VBMA P will help jump-start the m ove of theclaims application process from a paper-based model to a paperless one." Fast Letter 12-12On March 21, 2012 the HVAC via a letter to the USB Hickey requested a response to questionsraised at the February 15, 2012 budget hearing regarding this matter. However, this initiative is


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now out of commission and so are our taxpay er's dollars. How ever, hundreds of thousands ofclaims were left unprocessed.Contracting out the collection of private m edical evidence There was a pilot program.However, the results and whether it is still in operation are unknown.Agent Orange Fast Track Claims - "To address the anticipated claim receipts for the newpresumptive conditions, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sought a technology solution.Utilizing the VA Acquisition process, a contract award was made to IBM of Bethesda, MD, onJuly 2, 2010. IBM, in collaboration with VA subject matter experts, developed the "Fast Track"claims processing system. VA will deploy the full production system on October 29 , 2010. FastLetter 10-47"The Fast Track process is designed to expedite the processing of V ietnam Veterans' claims forservice connec tion for any of the three new herbicide-related presumptive conditions: ischemicheart disease; Pa rkinson 's disease; and, hairy cell and other chronic B cell leukemias. Expeditedreview w ill allow for faster release of funds to the Veteran and provide timely acc ess toDepartment of V eterans Affairs (VA ) medical care." Fast Letter 11-31The IBM built over 1 million dollars electronic paperless system that has proven to be ineffectiveand has been discontinued. How may claims are stuck in the system tha t is not being countedand how many taxpayer's dollars have been spent?eBenefits - is a joint VA/DoD web portal that prov ides resources and self-service cap abilities toVeterans, Service members, and their families to research, access and manage their V A andmilitary benef its and personal inform ation. Since active du ty members are required to enroll ineBenefits, how m any Veterans are enrolled and how effective is it? Veterans send in docum entscomplaining that they cannot upload them in eBenefits. Furthermore, eBenefits will provide thesame status mo nth after month if the c laim is not moving.The Resurrection of the 2008 Fully Developed Claim Statute - "VA is aggressively pursuingexpansion of the FDC program, and has conduc ted a num ber of outreach initiatives to encourageparticipation." Implem entation Update: Fully Developed Claims, Statement by Thom as M urray,Director, Compensation Service, Subcommitteeon Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs(DAMA) September 11, 2 013 Since the FDC was a part of the initial 40 + transformationinitiatives, the hearing results should be interesting.

We have provided some examples of the unplanned transform ation initiatives for context.However, taking in consideration the new of ADH O C procedures (2 and 1 year old claimsinitiatives, 20 hours mandatory and voluntary overtime, all hands on deck, provisional ratings,the deliberate neglect of appeals and other c laims), the m anipulation of the MMWR (excluding


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rating E nd Product 930s, 190s (death pension), and 400s associated with provisional ratings)from the C&P rating b undle and the new AD HO C initiatives (another push for FDCs c laims,Law students pilot to assist Veterans with their claims, an agreement signed by the CaliforniaDepartment of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) and V A for 36 State DVA reps to help to review claimspending for 125 days or longer (Note: How is that same program working in Texas? A s ofSeptember 14, 2013, Houston VA RO had 31,581 claims pending and 22,216 (70.3%) were over125 days and Waco V A RO had 29,567 c laims pending and 18,283 (61.8%) w as over 125 days),and soliciting Craigslist's founder for customer service help) only prove that VBA is continuingto make A DHO C procedures because of no planning and using public relations gimmicks in anattempt to give the perception that the V BA is making progress.A reduction in numbers does not mean progress. If you look at individual VA RO s, you will seethe real numbers. As explained in a previous letter, there are thousands of claims not in thesystem and languishing in the Intake Processing Centers (IPC) of V A RO s. What are the realnumbers is the question? This is another reason a review is needed of each VARO .Moreover, this is a clear indication that the unplanned transform ation initiatives have notworked. The VB A c annot improve claims processing on A DHO C procedures, public relationsgimmicks, and a VBM S that is not ready for "prime time."Excerpts from the article Veterans benefit backlog rising Disability claims shifted to Del. O f f i c e ,Delawareonline, August 26, 2 013 also shade some light on the "brokering of claims."

> The move has helped the two larger offices show substantial reductions in theirrespective backlogs - one of which, Baltimore's, remains the worst by percentage in thenation. Cases listed as backlogged have been pending longer than 125 days, which isVA's own measuring stick.5 > Wilmington's total has risen, as has its percentage of backlogged cases.> A s a result, the amount of time some veterans from Delaware and surrounding states arewaiting in line is growing - at the same time the Department of Veterans Affairs trumpetsa near-20 percent reduction in backlogged cases nationwide over the past five months.

Excerpts from another article Hagan pushes VA on benefits claims backlog, fayobserver.com,September 18, 2013 shows another negative side of this perceived p rogress at the expense ofother claims.> But Hagan, a member of the Armed Services Committee, pointed out that a backlog ofnearly 11,000 appeals of disability claims in W inston-Salem causes some veterans to waitfour years or longer to get a decision. "I am very concerned that no similar plans are inplace to handle the bac klog of appeals that is growing by the day," Hagan said in herstatement."> Sharon Sanders, director of Cum berland County Veterans Services, praised the effortsHagan and others have made to reduce the claims backlog.


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> But as a result, Sanders said, paperwork has slowed fo r veterans who want to add ordelete dependents or those w ho are seeking retroactive retirement pay.> Sanders said one veteran has waited 19 months for the V A to reinstate his daughter as adependent after she turned 18. She became eligible fo r benef its again after reaching thatage because she enrolled in college.> Sanders said her office does everything it can to discourage veterans who want to appealdecisions on their disab ility claims because of the length of time it will take to get theappeal heard.

Despite the VA"s declarations that they have reach a "tipping point" and "the backlog has beenreduced by 20%", and "VBMS" is making a difference", however the M MW R numbers sincethe initiatives started are as follows:

> the overall compensation C& P bundle has only been reduced by 101,883 claims;> the number of claims over 125 days has been reduced by 137,745;> appeals have increased by 9,199;> other claims have increased by 35,012 to include compensation dependency c laims whichhave increased by 17,230 and now totals 209,341;> EP 400 w hich now is associated with provisional rating has been increased by 41,410.

O n June 12, 2013, Mr. Thomas Mu rphy, Director, C ompensation Services gave this testimony tothe US Senate VA C omm ittee, "Yes, it does Mr. Chairman I got to point out some num bersshowing that w e are making progress in that regard. The backlog reduc tion of appropriately74,000 cases our overall inventory reduction in 44,000 cases adjusting in the last 45 days. Whatis significant about those num bers when we are talking about such a large volum e of cases itnot... bu t does indicate that we are at a 'tipping point'..." Pending Benefits Legislation, US SenateVeterans Affairs Committee SR-418, June 12 , 2 013In the light of the num bers given by M r. Murphy on June 12,2013, the progress is even moredisturbing. Therefore, since June 12, 2013, the o verall com pensation C& P bundle has only beenreduced by 57,883 and the number of c laims over 125 days has been reduced by 63,745. In 3months and 10 days, the number of claims over 125 days processed is less than the first 45 days.You cannot put a "Band-Aid" on a sucking chest wound and expect the patient to live. Thepatient needs surgery. How ever, the VA leadership is being allowed to perform claimsprocessing malpractice.Local 520 w ill continue to take its responsibility given by law to safeguard the public and tocon tribute to the effective conduc t of public business, seriously.Therefore, we will continue to chime in weekly on this most critical subject with "objectiveevidence" because Veterans have earned the right to have a claims processing system that worksfor a#_of them and employees can only effectively serve them if they are provided with the


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leadership, processes, people systems and work place culture that are conducive to providingtimely and accurate decisions.We tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be forcreating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization."Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C.

Ronald RobinsonPresident(803) 647-2385 (O fc )(803) 239-7682 (Cell)rbnsnrnld(q),vahoo.comwww.seniorvsr.comEnclosure:Weekly Analysis of VBA Progress - M M W RCF:President O bamaVA Secretary ShinsekiPresident AFG EPresident NV AC60 MinutesNY TimesWashington PostCenter fo r Investigative ReportingThe W ashington Exam inerVA Watchdog


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RATING BUNDLEM/27/2013

010110140020320681687405409310120180

*190

**930

70,277231,946

9,796478,0921,616

4710

2,165269

17,16719,70414,720

846,22350,868897,09128,923

248,012

9/7/201355,981

183,2378,674442,4022,3042,730

3109110

24,14918,01513,650

751,36438,548

789,91227,406

256,081

9/14/201354,526

179,2548,601439,0562,3432,747

o8997

25,92718,18313,517

744,34038,034782,37426,814

257,211T O T A L 1,174,026 1,073,399 1,066,399

Other Claims130290600

*400**137**150**297**607***160***165

Totals

4/27/2013

192,11183,64545,03424,46110,21453,94817,79618,54660,85015,002

521,607

9/14/2013

209,34187,36852,63965,8718,564

38,31712,34919,33547,63915,196

556,619

DIFF >12517,2303,7237,605

41,410-1,650

-15,631-5,447

789-13,211

19435,012

1 WeekDIFF

-1,455-3,983

-73-3,3463917-3

-20-13

1,778168

-133-7,024

-514-7,538

-5921,130

-7,000%72.2%82.7%51.9%29.5%48.4%71.0%33.9%22.8%

.Initiatives DIFF

-15,751-52,692-1,195-39,036

7272,276

0-2,076

-1728,760

-1,521-1,203

-101,883-12,834

-114,717-2,1099,199

-107,627

*Associated with Provisional Ratings**Pension Maintenance Center (PMC) claims***Death Claims at the PMC


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C&P RB >125 4/27/2013 09/07/13010110140020320

51,015169,997

3,511334,813

647681 115687 0405 2,161409 224310120180

8,0588,3195,056

34162119654

2063278093

1067537

010092

928967845537

TOTRB>125 583,916 457378*190 32,609 24798TOT

ENTITLEMENT 616,525 482176930 25,754 22917

09/14/1332585

1150722036

2721711106616

07482

1043166305368

44617124275

47044622257

*DIFF-1,577-4,582

-27-5,92239

790

-26-10

1,142-154-169

11,207-523

-1 1 ,730

-660

**DIFF-18,430-54,925

-1,475-62,642

459501

0-2,087

-1422,373

-1,689312

137,745-8,334

-146,079

-3,497

4/27/201372.6%73.3%35.8%70.0%40.0%24.4%0.0%

99.8%83.3%46.9%42.2%34.3%69.0%64.1%69.9%86.3%

09/14/1359.8%64.2%23.7%62.0%47.2%22.4%0.0%

83.1%84.5%40.2%36.5%39.7%59.9%63.8%76.3%86.4%

DIFF-12.8%

-9.1%-12.1%

-8.0%7.2%

-2.0%0.0%

-16.7%1.2%

-6.7%-5.7%5.4%

-9.1%-0.3%6.4%0.2%

GRAND TOTAL 642,279 505093 492703 12,390 149,576 78.6%

afge local 520 us house and senate committees 09-22-13

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