Frustrated Veterans Sound Off at Waco VA Town Hall
The Waco Veterans Affairs Regional Office has made strides in tackling backlogged claims, but officials admit the center still has gains to make in resolving pending claims and appeals.
The regional office held a town hall meeting at the Waco Convention Center on Wednesday to get veterans feedback on the agencys handling of disability benefits claims.
VA Secretary Bob McDonald ordered all regional offices and medical centers to host the forums by the end of this month to solicit input as the agency brainstorms strategies to better serve veterans.
Regional Office Director John Limpose said the center has reduced its backlogged claims to about 14,000, down from a peak of 41,000 in 2012. A claim is considered backlogged if it is pending for more than 125 days.
The center also has decreased the amount of time a veteran typically must wait for a rating decision on a pending claim. It now takes the office about 250 days on average to rate a claim, down from 444.6 days just a year ago.
Limpose credited changes like a new electronic claims filing system, as well as mandatory staff overtime, with improving claims processing.
Weve done some tremendous things, but we know weve got challenges, he said. We know weve got challenges in appeals, weve got challenges in some other areas we need to work on.
The regional office expects to add or reassign more staff to handle appeals in the next 90 days, Limpose said. Appeals typically require greater documentation and reviews and take more time to resolve.
About 40 veterans attended the town hall, many of whom were frustrated at the long wait times for a claim to be approved.
Limpose apologized to one veteran who said the VA hasnt acted on a claim he filed in 2003, saying thats just unacceptable and that never should have happened.
The regional office also set up a separate room where veterans could visit one-on-one with staff to review their claim information or address problems.
Marine Corps veteran Florencio Monreal, 65, served in the Vietnam War. He told Limpose he first filed a claim in 1970 and was denied benefits, and his appeals have been in limbo as the VA repeatedly sent letters asking for additional information.
Monreal said he was shot in the knee while on duty and also experienced a traumatic brain injury, but said he has been told that the VA cannot find evidence of his injuries in his medical records. He also suffers from neuropathy and is receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from the Waco VA hospital.
Ive lost count how many times Ive been (to the regional office), Monreal said. Theyll tell me or send me a letter saying, We need more information on your case. And I say, Look, Im not going to do your job, thats what youre supposed to do.
Though the meeting was targeted at benefits claims, several veterans aired grievances against the Central Texas VA Health Care System, calling out the Temple and Waco VA hospitals staff for delays in scheduling appointments or not properly documenting or diagnosing ailments.
Russell Lloyd, associate director for resources of the Central Texas VA Health Care System, said doctors and staff at both the Temple and Waco offices will be receiving customer care training in the coming weeks in response to veterans complaints about negative interactions with staff.
We have very good employees, but we do have those areas where we need to have some re-training of staff so they are sensitive to how theyre coming across to our veterans . . . and that they understand how we need to interact with our veterans in a positive manner, Lloyd said.
Waco Army veteran Doug Thompson said he thinks the regional office and VA hospitals need to improve how they share information about veterans cases, which can expedite the claims process. Specifically, he said, doctors need to use the medical language the regional office looks for in determining whether a veterans ailments qualify for disability coverage.
Thompson served 18 months in Vietnam. He said he received a 30 percent disability rating in 1990 for post-traumatic stress disorder, but he was upgraded to 100 percent disability benefits in 1997.
The only reason I got 100 percent is that I had to continue to go between the (regional) office and the VA hospital, and what I found out was that if the doctors did not document word for word, verbatim, what was written in this book, then you were denied, Thompson said.
Lorenzo Casillas, of Temple, said he would like to see the regional office be more transparent and improve communication with veterans.
Limpose said the Waco office is the second-largest claims processing center in the country, based on the number of claims it receives. The office has 27,000 pending claims, and the number of new claims filed has increased by 32 percent this fiscal year.
I think theyre doing the best that they can, but they have a really big caseload and thats what is slowing things down, Casillas said. But they need to better at communicating with the veteran, because the average veteran will think youre just sitting there not working because they dont know the work youre up against.
Some veterans also criticized the regional office for not doing more to promote the town hall meeting and get a greater response from veterans.
Thompson said he thinks some veterans are still skeptical if the VA can make significant changes to improve health care and compensation.
The reason you dont have many veterans in here today is because they feel pretty much the way Ive felt all my life since Vietnam, that the VA dropped us off or let us go, Thompson said.
Tags: Veterans News
