New Orleans VA Regional Office Half Right on Claims

New report: New Orleans VA Regional Office made mistakes in 42 of 90 disability claims
Times-Picayune
By Bruce Alpert, NOLA.com
July 10, 2014

WASHINGTON -- The New Orleans Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office didn't accurately process 42 of the 90 disability claims reviewed by the department's inspector general, according to a report released Thursday.

The office's director said the facility has an overall accuracy rate of 92 percent for the 12-month period ending in June, 2014, and 97.9 percent over the last three months.

In the "most significant underpayment, the New Orleans office reduced a veteran's compensation for prostate cancer based on remission of the condition. But, the report said the veteran provided medical evidence to show the cancer was still active, meaning no reduction in monthly benefits was justified. As a result of the error, VA underpaid the veteran $3,734 over two months.

In another case, the inspector general's report said, the New Orleans regional office's staff used a "personal interpretation" of medical evidence to determine disability for lung cancer. It should have "used the results provided by the examining physician," the audit said.

The third case cited by the audit covers a veteran suffering from headaches. The report said VA staff sought to reduce the veteran's disability rating, but that the medical evaluation showed no change in the severity of the veteran's headaches, meaning no reduction was warranted.
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