United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Testimony 

Before the Committee on Veterans’ 

Affairs, United States Senate 

VETERANS’ DISABILITY 

BENEFITS 

Long-Standing Claims 

Processing Challenges 

Persist 

Statement of Daniel Bertoni, Acting Director 

Education, Workforce and Income Security 

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 9:30 a.m. EST 

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

 

GAO-07-512T 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

March 7, 2007

VETERANS' DISABILITY BENEFITS

Long-Standing Claims Processing 

Highlights of GAO-07-512T, a testimony Challenges Persist 

before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, 

United States Senate 

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs 

Committee asked GAO to discuss 

its recent work related to the

Department of Veterans Affairs’ 

(VA) disability claims and appeals 

processing. 

GAO has reported and testified on

this subject on numerous 

occasions. GAO’s work has 

addressed VA’s efforts to improve 

the timeliness and accuracy of

decisions on claims and appeals, 

VA’s efforts to reduce backlogs, 

and concerns about decisional

consistency. 

VA continues to face challenges in improving service delivery to veterans, 

specifically in speeding up the process of adjudication and appeal, reducing 

the existing backlog of claims, and improving the accuracy and consistency 

of decisions. For example, as of the end of fiscal year 2006, rating-related 

compensation claims were pending an average of 127 days, 16 days more

than at the end of fiscal year 2003. During the same period, the inventory of 

rating-related claims grew by almost half, due in part to increased filing of 

claims, including those filed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan 

conflicts. Meanwhile, appeals resolution remains a lengthy process, taking 

an average of 657 days in fiscal year 2006. Further, we and VA’s Inspector 

General have identified concerns about the consistency of decisions by VA’s 

regional offices and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA). 

Rating-Related Claims Pending at End of Period, Fiscal Years 2000-

2006

0

100

200

300

400

500

Claims pending (in thousands)

Source: VA data.

Fiscal year

Pending over 6 months

57

228

172

421

122

346

47

254

67

321

72

346

83

378

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Total pending

VA is taking steps to address these problems. For example, the President’s

fiscal year 2008 budget requests an increase of over 450 full-time equivalent 

employees to process compensation claims. VA is working to improve 

appeals timeliness by reducing appeals remanded for further work. VA is 

also developing a plan to monitor consistency across regional offices. 

However, several factors may limit VA’s ability to make and sustain 

significant improvements in its claims processing performance, including the 

potential impacts of laws and court decisions, continued increases in the 

number and complexity of claims being filed, and difficulties in obtaining the 

evidence needed to decide claims in a timely and accurate manner, such as 

military service records. 

Opportunities for significant performance improvement may lie in more 

fundamental reform of VA's disability compensation program. This could 

include reexamining program design such as updating the disability criteria 

to reflect the current state of science, medicine, technology, and labor 

market conditions. It could also include examining the structure and 

division of labor among field offices. 

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-512T.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Daniel Bertoni 

at (202) 512-7215 or bertonid@gao.gov. 
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

I am pleased to have the opportunity to comment on the claims processing 

challenges and opportunities facing the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 

(VA) disability compensation and pension programs. Through these 

programs, VA provided about $34.5 billion in cash disability benefits to 

more than 3.5 million veterans and their survivors in fiscal year 2006. For 

years, the claims process has been the subject of concern and attention by

VA, the Congress, and veterans service organizations. Many of their 

concerns have focused on long waits for decisions, large claims backlogs, 

and inaccurate decisions. Our work, and media reports of significant 

discrepancies in average disability payments from state to state have also 

highlighted concerns about the consistency of decision-making within VA. 

In January 2003, we designated modernizing VA and other federal 

disability programs as a high-risk area, because of these service delivery 

challenges and because our work over the past decade found that these 

programs are based on outmoded concepts from the past. 

You asked us to discuss our recent work on VA’s disability claims process. 

My statement draws on a number of prior GAO reports and testimonies. 

(See related GAO products.) We updated information as appropriate to 

reflect the current status of VA claims processing and initiatives. 

In summary, VA continues to face challenges in improving service delivery 

to veterans, specifically in speeding up the process of adjudication and 

appeal, reducing the existing backlog of claims, and improving the 

accuracy and consistency of decisions. For example, between fiscal years 

2003 and 2006, the inventory of rating-related claims grew by almost half 

to a total of about 378,000, due in part to increased filing of claims, 

including those filed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.1

During the same period, the average number of days these claims were 

pending increased by 16 days, to an average of 127 days. While VA has 

improved the accuracy of its compensation decisions to 88 percent in 

fiscal year 2006, it is still well short of its established goal of 98 percent. 

Meanwhile, appeals resolution remains a lengthy process. In fiscal year 

2006, it took an average of 657 days to resolve appeals. Further, we and 

 1

 Rating-related claims are primarily original claims for disability compensation and 

pension benefits, and reopened claims. For example, veterans may file reopened claims if 

they believe their service-connected conditions have worsened. 

Page 1 GAO-07-512T 
VA’s Inspector General have identified concerns about the consistency of 

decisions across regional offices and at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

VA is taking steps to address service delivery problems, but improvements 

may be limited by several factors. The President’s fiscal year 2008 budget 

requests an increase of over 450 full-time equivalent employees to process 

compensation claims. Through training and information sharing, VA is also 

working to reduce appeals processing times by decreasing the number of 

cases sent back from the appeals level for further development. Further, 

VA has taken actions to improve consistency, including developing a plan

to monitor decisions and identify unacceptable variations, and

commissioning a study of the major influences on compensation 

decisions. However, several factors may limit VA’s ability to make and 

sustain significant improvements in its claims processing performance. 

These include the potential impacts of laws and court decisions, continued 

increases in the number and complexity of claims being filed, and 

difficulties in obtaining the evidence needed to adjudicate claims in a 

timely and accurate manner, such as military service records. 

Opportunities for significant performance improvement may lie in more 

fundamental reform of VA’s disability compensation program. This would 

include reexamining program design as well as the structure and division 

of labor among field offices. For example, we found that VA and other 

federal disability programs have not been updated to reflect the current 

state of science, medicine, technology, and labor market conditions. 

Specifically, the criteria for disability decisions are based primarily on 

estimates made in 1945 about the effect of service-connected impairments 

on the average individual’s ability to perform jobs requiring manual labor. 

In addition, our work has shown that about one-third of newly 

compensated veterans could be interested in receiving lump sum 

payments, which could potentially save VA time and money associated 

with reopening cases over time and could be beneficial to veterans. In 

addition, VA and other organizations have identified potential changes to 

field operations that could enhance productivity and accuracy in 

processing disability claims. While major reexamination may be daunting, 

there are mechanisms for undertaking such an effort. For example, the 

congressionally chartered commission on veterans’ disability benefits has 

been studying a number of program design issues, and will report to the 

Congress later this year.

Page 2 GAO-07-512T 
VA pays monthly disability compensation benefits to veterans with 

service-connected disabilities (injuries or diseases incurred or aggravated 

while on active military duty) according to the severity of the disability. VA 

also pays compensation to some spouses, children, and parents of 

deceased veterans and service members. VA’s pension program pays 

monthly benefits based on financial need to certain wartime veterans or 

their survivors.2

When a veteran submits a claim to any of the Veterans Benefits 

Administration’s 57 regional offices, a veterans service representative is 

responsible for obtaining the relevant evidence to evaluate the claim. Such 

evidence includes veterans’ military service records, medical 

examinations, and treatment records from VA medical facilities and 

private medical service providers. Once a claim has all the necessary 

evidence, a rating specialist evaluates the claim and determines whether 

the claimant is eligible for benefits. If the veteran is eligible for disability 

compensation, the rating specialist assigns a percentage rating based on 

degree of disability. A veteran who disagrees with the regional office’s 

decision can appeal to VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals and then to U.S. 

federal courts. If the Board finds that a case needs additional work such as 

obtaining additional evidence or contains procedural errors, it is sent back 

to the Veterans Benefits Administration, which is responsible for initial 

decisions on disability claims. 

In November 2003, the Congress established the Veterans’ Disability 

Benefits Commission to study the appropriateness of VA disability 

benefits, including disability criteria and benefit levels. The commission is 

scheduled to report to the Congress by October 1, 2007. 

VA continues to experience significant service delivery challenges 

including lengthy processing times and inaccurate and inconsistent 

decisions. While VA made progress in fiscal years 2002 and 2003 reducing

the size and age of its pending claims inventory, it has lost ground since 

then. This is due in part to increased filing of claims, including those filed 

by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Moreover, questions 

remain about consistency of VA’s decisions across regional offices and at

the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

Background 

VA Continues to Face 

Service Delivery 

Challenges 

 2

 Veterans qualify for pensions if they have low income, served in a period of war, and are

permanently and totally disabled for reasons not service-connected (or are age 65 or older). 

Page 3 GAO-07-512T 
VA’s inventory of pending claims and their average time pending have

increased significantly in the last 3 years. The number of pending claims 

increased by almost one-half from the end of fiscal year 2003 to the end of

fiscal year 2006, from about 254,000 to about 378,000. During the same 

period, the number of claims pending longer than 6 months increased by 

more than three-fourths, from about 47,000 to about 83,000 (see fig.1). 

Figure 1: Rating-Related Claims Pending at End of Period, Fiscal Years 2000-2006

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Claims pending (in thousands)

Source: VA data.

Fiscal year

Pending over 6 months

Total pending

57

228

172

421

122

346

47

254

67

321

72

346

83

378

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Similarly, as shown in figure 2, VA reduced the average age of its pending

claims from 182 days at the end of fiscal year 2001 to 111 days at the end 

of fiscal year 2003. However, by the end of fiscal year 2006 average days 

pending had increased to 127 days. Meanwhile, the time required to 

resolve appeals remains too long. The average time to resolve an appeal 

rose from 529 days in fiscal year 2004 to 657 days in fiscal year 2006. 

Page 4 GAO-07-512T 
Figure 2: Average Days Pending for VA Compensation and Pension Rating-Related 

Claims, Fiscal Years 2000-2006 

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Days pending

Source: VA data.

Fiscal year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

138

182

174

111

118 120

127

The increase in VA’s inventory of pending claims, and their average time 

pending is due in part to an increase in claims receipts. Rating-related 

claims, including those filed by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan 

conflicts, increased steadily from about 579,000 in fiscal year 2000 to about 

806,000 in fiscal year 2006, an increase of about 39 percent. 

In addition to problems with deciding claims in a timely manner, VA 

acknowledges that regional office decision accuracy needs further 

improvement. VA reports that it has improved the accuracy of decisions on

rating related compensation claims from 80 percent in fiscal year 2002 to

88 percent in fiscal year 2006.

3

 However, this figure remains well short of 

its strategic goal of 98 percent. 

VA also continues to face questions about its ability to ensure that 

veterans receive consistent decisions across regional offices. We have

identified the need for VA to systematically address this issue to achieve

 3

 Actual data through July 2006. 

Page 5 GAO-07-512T 
acceptable levels of variation.4

 VA’s Inspector General has studied one 

indicator of possible inconsistency, the wide variations in average 

payments per veteran from state to state. In May 2005, the Inspector 

General5

 reported that compensation payments are affected by many 

factors and that some disabilities are inherently more susceptible to 

variations in rating determinations. Further, we reported in May 2005 that 

the Board of Veterans’ Appeals had taken actions to strengthen its system 

for reviewing the quality of its decisions, but VA still lacked a systematic 

method for ensuring the consistency of decision making within VA as a 

whole. 

VA has recently taken several steps to improve service delivery, but their 

potential to lead to significant improvements may be limited by several 

factors. These steps include requesting funding for additional staff, 

initiatives to reduce appeal remands, and initiatives to assess and monitor 

decision consistency. However, limitations on potential improvements 

include increases in claims volume and complexity, and challenges in 

acquiring needed evidence in a timely manner. 

In its fiscal year 2008 budget justification, VA identified an increase in 

claims processing staff as essential to reducing the pending claims 

inventory and improving timeliness. According to VA, with a workforce 

that is sufficiently large and correctly balanced, it can successfully meet 

the veterans’ needs while ensuring good stewardship of taxpayer funds. 

The fiscal year 2008 request would fund 8,320 full-time equivalent 

employees working on compensation and pension, which would represent 

an increase of about 6 percent over fiscal year 2006. In addition, the 

budget justification cites near-term initiatives to increase the number of 

claims completed, such as using retired VA employees to provide training, 

and the increased use of overtime. 

Despite VA’s

Continuing Steps, a 

Number of Factors 

May Limit Its Ability 

to Improve Claims 

Processing 

 4

 GAO, Veterans’ Benefits: Quality Assurance for Disability Claims and Appeals 

Processing Can Be Further Improved, GAO-02-806 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 16, 2002); and 

Veterans Benefits: VA Needs Plan for Assessing Consistency of Decisions, GAO-05-99 

(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 19, 2004). 

5

 Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Review of State Variances in

VA Disability Compensation Payments, Report No. 05-00765-137 (Washington, D.C.: May 

19, 2005). 

Page 6 GAO-07-512T 
Even as staffing levels increase, however, VA acknowledges that it still 

must take other actions to improve productivity.6

 VA’s budget justification 

provides information on actual and planned productivity, in terms of 

claims decided per full-time equivalent employee. While VA expects a 

temporary decline in productivity as new staff are trained and become 

more experienced, it expects productivity to increase in the longer term. 

Also, VA has identified additional initiatives to help improve productivity. 

For example, VA plans to pilot paperless Benefits Delivery at Discharge, 

where service members’ disability claim applications, service medical 

records, and other evidence would be captured electronically prior to 

discharge. VA expects that this new process will reduce the time needed to

obtain the evidence needed to decide claims. 

To resolve appeals faster, VA has been working to reduce the number of 

appeals sent back by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals for further work such 

as obtaining additional evidence and correcting procedural errors. To do 

so, VA has established joint training and information sharing between field

staff and the Board. VA reports that it has reduced the percentage of 

decisions remanded from about 57 percent in fiscal year 2004 to about 32 

percent in fiscal year 2006, and expects its efforts to lead to further 

reductions. Also, VA reports that it has improved the productivity of the 

Board’s judges from an average of 604 appeals decided in fiscal year 2003 

to 698 in fiscal year 2006. The Board attributes this improvement to 

training and mentoring programs and expects productivity to improve to 

752 decisions in fiscal year 2008. 

To improve decision consistency, VA has contracted for a study of the 

major influences on compensation payments, to develop baseline data for 

monitoring and managing decision variances. Also, VA is in the process of 

testing templates for compensation and pension medical examinations for 

specific types of disabilities to ensure that medical evidence from these 

examinations will enable consistent evaluations of disabilities. Further, VA 

formed a workgroup to study variances in the rates of benefit grants and 

denials, and in assigned disability evaluations, leading to development of 

plans to monitor consistency on an ongoing basis. 

Despite these efforts, VA may be limited in its ability to make and sustain 

significant claims processing performance improvements. Recent history 

 6

See GAO, Veterans’ Benefits: More Transparency Needed to Improve Oversight of VBA’s 

Compensation and Pension Staffing Levels, GAO-05-47 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 15, 2004).

Page 7 GAO-07-512T 
has shown that VA’s claims processing workload and performance are 

affected by several factors, including the impacts of laws and court 

decisions, increasing numbers and complexity of claims, and difficulties in

obtaining accurate and timely information to adjudicate claims. Since 

1999, several court decisions and laws related to VA’s responsibilities to 

assist veterans in developing their benefit claims have significantly 

affected VA’s ability to process claims in a timely manner. VA attributes 

some of the increase in the number of claims pending and the average 

days pending to a September 2003 court decision that required over 62,000 

claims to be deferred, many for 90 days or longer. Also, VA notes that 

legislation and VA regulations have expanded benefit entitlement and 

added to the volume of claims. For example, in recent years, laws and 

regulations have created new presumptions of service-connected 

disabilities for many Vietnam veterans and former prisoners of war. Also, 

VA expects additional claims receipts based on the enactment of 

legislation allowing certain military retirees to receive both military 

retirement pay and VA disability compensation. 

In addition, rating-related claims continue to increase, from about 579,000 

in fiscal year 2000 to about 806,000 in fiscal year 2006, an increase of about

39 percent. While VA projects relatively flat claim receipts in fiscal years 

2007 and 2008, it cautions that ongoing hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan,

and the Global War on Terrorism in general, may increase the workload 

beyond current levels. VA has also noted that claims have increased in part 

because older veterans are filing disability claims for the first time. 

Moreover, according to VA, the complexity of claims is also increasing. 

For example, some veterans are citing more disabilities in their claims 

than in the past. Because each disability needs to be evaluated separately,

these claims can take longer to complete. Additionally, VA notes that they

are receiving more disability claims, such as those related to mental health 

issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, which are generally harder 

to evaluate.

Additionally, claims processing timeliness and decisional accuracy can be

hampered if VA cannot obtain the evidence it needs in a timely manner. 

For example, to obtain information needed to fully develop some posttraumatic stress disorder claims, VBA must obtain records from the U.S. 

Army and Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC), whose 

average response time to VBA regional office requests is about 1 year. This 

can significantly increase the time it takes to decide a claim. In December 

2006, we recommended that VBA assess whether it could systematically 

utilize an electronic library of historical military records rather than 

submitting all research requests to the JSRRC. VBA agreed to determine 

Page 8 GAO-07-512T 
the feasibility of regional offices using an alternative resource prior to 

sending some requests to the JSRRC. We also reported that while VBA 

quality reviewers found few decision errors due to failure to obtain 

military service records, VBA does not know the extent to which the 

information that is provided to regional offices is reliable and accurate. 

Regional offices rely on a VBA unit at the National Personnel Records 

Center, where service records of many veterans are stored, to do thorough 

and reliable searches and analyses of records and provide accurate reports 

on the results. However, we noted that VBA does not systematically 

evaluate the quality of these searches and analyses. Incomplete and 

inaccurate reports could affect decisional accuracy. 

While VA is taking actions to address its claims processing challenges, 

there are opportunities for more fundamental reform that could 

dramatically improve decision making and processing. These include 

reexamining program design, as well as the structure and division of labor 

among field offices. 

After more than a decade of research, we have determined that federal 

disability programs are in urgent need of attention and transformation and 

placed modernizing federal disability programs on our high-risk list in 

January 2003. Specifically, our research showed that the disability 

programs administered by VA and the Social Security Administration 

lagged behind the scientific advances and economic and social changes 

that have redefined the relationship between impairments and work. For 

example, advances in medicine and technology have reduced the severity 

of some medical conditions and have allowed individuals to live with 

greater independence and function in work settings. Moreover, the nature 

of work has changed in recent decades as the national economy has 

moved away from manufacturing-based jobs to service- and knowledgebased employment. Yet VA’s and SSA’s disability programs remain mired 

in concepts from the past—particularly the concept that impairment 

equates to an inability to work—and as such, we found that these 

programs are poorly positioned to provide meaningful and timely support 

for Americans with disabilities. 

Opportunities for 

Improvement May Lie 

in More Fundamental 

Reform 

In August 2002, we recommended that VA use its annual performance plan 

to delineate strategies for and progress in periodically updating labor 

market data used in its disability determination process. We also 

recommended that VA study and report to the Congress on the effects that 

a comprehensive consideration of medical treatment and assistive 

technologies would have on its disability programs’ eligibility criteria and 

benefits package. This study would include estimates of the effects on the 

Page 9 GAO-07-512T 
size, cost, and management of VA’s disability programs and other relevant

VA programs and would identify any legislative actions needed to initiate 

and fund such changes.

Another area of program design that could be examined is the option of 

providing a lump sum payment in lieu of monthly disability compensation. 

In 1996, the Veterans’ Claims Adjudication Commission noted that most 

disability compensation claims are repeat claims—such as claims for 

increased disability percentage—and most repeat claims were from 

veterans with less severe disabilities.7

 According to VA, about 65 percent 

of veterans who began receiving disability compensation in fiscal year 

2003 had disabilities rated 30 percent or less. The commission questioned 

whether concentrating claims processing resources on these claims, rather 

than on claims by more severely disabled veterans, was consistent with 

program intent. The commission asked Congress to consider paying less 

severely disabled veterans compensation in a lump sum. According to the 

commission, the lump sum option could have a number of benefits for VA 

as well as veterans. Specifically, the lump sum option could reduce the 

number of claims submitted and allow VA to process claims more 

quickly—especially those of more seriously disabled veterans. Moreover, a 

lump sum option could be more useful to some veterans as they make the 

transition from military to civilian life. In December 2000, we reported that 

about one-third of newly compensated veterans could be interested in a 

lump sum option. 

In addition to program design, VA’s regional office claims processing 

structure may be disadvantageous to efficient operations. VBA and others 

who have studied claims processing have suggested that consolidating 

claims processing into fewer regional offices could help improve claims 

processing efficiency, save overhead costs, and improve decisional 

accuracy and consistency. We noted in December 2005 that VA had made 

piecemeal changes to its claims processing field structure. VA 

consolidated some of its pension income and eligibility verifications at 

three regional offices. Further, VA consolidated decision making on 

Benefits Delivery at Discharge claims, which are generally original claims 

for disability compensation, at the Salt Lake City and Winston-Salem 

regional offices. However, VA has not changed its basic field structure for 

processing compensation and pension claims at 57 regional offices, which 

 7

 Veterans’ Claims Adjudication Commission, Report to Congress (Washington D.C.:

December 1996). 

Page 10 GAO-07-512T 
experience large performance variations and questions about decision 

consistency. Unless more comprehensive and strategic changes are made 

to its field structure, VBA is likely to miss opportunities to substantially 

improve productivity, accuracy, and consistency, especially in the face of

future workload increases. We have recommended that the VA undertake 

a comprehensive review of its field structure for processing disability 

compensation and pension claims. 

While reexamining claims processing challenges may be daunting, there

are mechanisms for undertaking such an effort, including the 

congressionally chartered commission currently studying veterans’ 

disability benefits. In November 2003, the Congress established the 

Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission to study the appropriateness of 

VA disability benefits, including disability criteria and benefit levels. The 

commission is to examine and provide recommendations on (1) the 

appropriateness of the benefits, (2) the appropriateness of the benefit 

amounts, and (3) the appropriate standard or standards for determining 

whether a disability or death of a veteran should be compensated. The 

commission held its first public hearing in May 2005 and in October 2005, 

established 31 research questions for study. These questions address such 

issues as how well disability benefits meet the congressional intent of 

replacing average impairment in earnings capacity, whether lump sum 

payments should be made for certain disabilities or level of severity of 

disability, and how VA’s claims processing operation compares to other 

disability programs, including the location and number of processing 

centers. These issues and others have been raised by previous studies of 

VBA’s disability claims process. The commission is scheduled to report to 

the Congress by October 1, 2007. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. I would be happy to answer any 

questions that you or other members of the committee may have. 

For further information, please contact Daniel Bertoni at (202) 512-7215 or

Bertonid@gao.gov. Also contributing to this statement were Shelia Drake, 

Martin Scire, Greg Whitney, and Charles Willson. 

GAO Contact and 

Acknowledgments 

Page 11 GAO-07-512T 
Page 12 GAO-07-512T 

Related GAO Products 

High Risk Series: An Update. GAO-07-310. Washington, D.C.: January 31, 

2007. 

Veterans’ Disability Benefits: VA Can Improve Its Procedures for Obtaining 

Military Service Records. GAO-07-98. Washington, D.C.: December 12, 

2006. 

Veterans’ Benefits: Further Changes in VBA’s Field Office Structure Could 

Help Improve Disability Claims Processing. GAO-06-149. Washington, D.C.: 

December 9, 2005. 

Veterans’ Disability Benefits: Claims Processing Challenges and 

Opportunities for Improvements. GAO-06-283T. Washington, D.C.: 

December 7, 2005. 

Veterans’ Disability Benefits: Improved Transparency Needed to Facilitate 

Oversight of VBA’s Compensation and Pension Staffing Levels. GAO-06-

225T. Washington, D.C.: November 3, 2005. 

VA Benefits: Other Programs May Provide Lessons for Improving 

Individual Unemployability Assessments. GAO-06-207T. Washington, D.C.: 

October 27, 2005. 

Veterans’ Disability Benefits: Claims Processing Problems Persist and 

Major Performance Improvements May Be Difficult. GAO-05-749T. 

Washington, DC.: May 26, 2005. 

VA Disability Benefits: Board of Veterans’ Appeals Has Made 

Improvements in Quality Assurance, but Challenges Remain for VA in 

Assuring Consistency. GAO-05-655T. Washington, D.C.: May 5, 2005. 

Veterans Benefits: VA Needs Plan for Assessing Consistency of Decisions. 

GAO-05-99. Washington, D.C.: November 19, 2004. 

Veterans’ Benefits: More Transparency Needed to Improve Oversight of 

VBA’s Compensation and Pension Staffing Levels. GAO-05-47. Washington, 

D.C.: November 15, 2004.

Veterans’ Benefits: Improvements Needed in the Reporting and Use of 

Data on the Accuracy of Disability Claims Decisions. GAO-03-1045. 

Washington, D.C.: September 30, 2003. 
Department of Veterans Affairs: Key Management Challenges in Health 

and Disability Programs. GAO-03-756T. Washington, D.C.: May 8, 2003. 

Veterans Benefits Administration: Better Collection and Analysis of 

Attrition Data Needed to Enhance Workforce Planning. GAO-03-491. 

Washington, D.C.: April 28, 2003. 

Veterans’ Benefits: Claims Processing Timeliness Performance Measures 

Could Be Improved. GAO-03-282. Washington, D.C.: December 19, 2002. 

Veterans’ Benefits: Quality Assurance for Disability Claims and Appeals 

Processing Can Be Further Improved. GAO-02-806. Washington, D.C.: 

August 16, 2002. 

Veterans’ Benefits: VBA’s Efforts to Implement the Veterans Claims 

Assistance Act Need Further Monitoring. GAO-02-412. Washington, D.C.: 

July 1, 2002.

Veterans’ Benefits: Despite Recent Improvements, Meeting Claims 

Processing Goals Will Be Challenging. GAO-02-645T. Washington, D.C.: 

April 26, 2002. 

Veterans Benefits Administration: Problems and Challenges Facing 

Disability Claims Processing. GAO/T-HEHS/AIMD-00-146. Washington, 

D.C.: May 18, 2000. 

Page 13 GAO-07-512T (130644) 
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