557,460 wait more than 125 days for VA claims

VA sees 'paperless' claims as critical to ending backlog
By TOM PHILPOTT
Special to Stars and Stripes
Published: January 26, 2012
The only way to achieve VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s goal for 2015 -- that every disability compensation claim gets processed within 125 days and with 98 percent accuracy -- is to shift to a paperless claims system. And that transformation has begun.

That was the testimony Tuesday by VA’s top claim processing official before the House veteran affairs’ subcommittee on disability assistance.

Tom Murphy, director of compensation service for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), an agency for the Department of Veterans Affairs, acknowledged the claims backlog has grown in recent years.

Compensation and benefit claims pending at VA, as of Jan. 23, totaled 852,127 and 65 percent of them – 557,460 – had been filed by veterans more than 125 days ago, which means they are in “backlog” status.
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