Sanders sees hiring vets to process claims as part of backlog solution

Sanders sees hiring vets to process claims as part of backlog solution
Navy Times
Rick Maze
Staff Writer
May. 13, 2013

Hiring veterans to process claims could be part of the solution to eliminating the backlog of disability claims, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman believes.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who became the veterans’ committee chairman in January, sees hiring veterans for claims processing and adjudication positions as one step among many that are needed to improve the timeliness and accuracy of claims.

Sanders noted that the Veterans Affairs Department lost about 6 percent of its claims staff in fiscal 2012. This created openings that could be filled by veterans to “create a generation of adjudicators throughout VA who can identify with the experiences of the population they serve,” he said in a statement.

Sanders introduced a bill May 9 that calls for creation of a working group within VA that would look at how to hire veterans and also look at how to evaluate employees who work on claims.
read more here

Maybe someone is paying attention to Wounded Times?
Department of Veterans Affairs should draft temps