In early August of 2023, approximately 32,000 veterans who had filed their disability compensation claims through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) website were notified that their disability compensation claims were not processed or reviewed.
According to VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes, notification letters to the 32,000 veterans “impacted by the issue” were already mailed. The glitch causing the problem dealt with a computer error that dated back to 2018 for some of the veterans.
The VA indicated that it had identified all the veterans, but it did not provide the number of claims that were submitted. Some veterans may have submitted multiple disability compensation claims. Once the veterans were identified the VA worked on a new method to take these delayed claims and to transfer them to the correct system for processing.
The veterans’ disability claims were delayed because of a technical issue (glitch) relating to the claims not being automatically routed for processing and the integration of two (2) computer systems on the VA.gov. platform website.
According to VA Press Secretary Hayes, the VA implemented a solution in February (of 2023) that has prevented any additional veterans from being adversely affected by the computer glitch. Recipients of the letter were informed that the VA was conducting a thorough review of the issue and they did not need to take any subsequent action.
“We deeply apologize to these veterans for the delay,” said Hayes, “and we will ensure they receive the benefits they’ve earned as quickly as possible. We are processing these claims with utmost urgency.”
“We will continue to review our technology, processes, and systems to prevent such technical issues from impacting veterans in the future,” noted Hayes.
“We will ensure that the effective date (on the disability claim filing) for every one of these veterans is preserved,” noted the VA Press Secretary.
Preserving the “effective date” of the disability claim will be important to the veteran because, if the claim is approved, the compensation benefits will be backdated to the original date of filing.
In a July 13, 2022, issue of The Clermont Sun newspaper, an article discussed the problems the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was experiencing with implementing the Electronic Health Records (EHR) computer software system. In April of 2023, the VA wisely halted all future development of the EHR system for safety of patients’ issues.
Apparently, a flaw in the information technology infrastructure utilized by the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has now caused significant problems to over 32,000 veterans.
In 2023, the VA has experienced several high-profile problems related to its aging Information Technology (IT) Systems and its modernization efforts. When a PACT Act surge of applications in late July and early August overwhelmed the VA’s online filing portal, roughly twenty (20%) of applicants received error messages.
According to the VA, in 2022, the VBA processed more than 1.7 million disability compensation and pension claims. As of August 2023, the number of pending disability and pension claims totaled 1,043,961. A total of 274,148 claims were considered by the VBA to be classified as “backlogged,” or older than 125 days.
On March 23, 2023, during a House Veterans Affairs Budget Hearing, VA Secretary Denis McDonough explained to our elected Congressional leaders that an effort to maintain VA federal funding at fiscal 2022 levels would result in a shortfall of $345 million dollars. The VA Secretary said the VA needed the increased funds to increase its aging information technology software and infrastructure.
My Opinion: Statistically, the 32,000 veterans that were caught in the computer glitch were less than one (1%) percent of the 1.7 million claims processed in 2022 and the 1 million claims already processed in 2023.
That statistic is meaningful, unless you are one of the 32,000 veterans who have been waiting in vain for a VBA decision on the disability claims that they filed. To put it in a proper perspective, the 32,000 veterans impacted by the computer glitch, are over fifty (50%) percent of the names contained on the Vietnam Memorial War in Washington, D.C.
Computer glitches do occur every day, that is a given fact especially with an older software and technology information system. The VA seeks $6.4 billion for the Office of Information Technology to upgrade its aging IT infrastructure and services and an additional $1.9 billion to convert to the new Oracle Cerner Millennium electronic health records (EHR) system.
The Oracle EHR system was a great medical records concept but attempted to be implemented in an ill-conceived contractual manner by the previous Presidential Administration.
VA Secretary McDonough is stuck with trying to fix the situation he inherited in January of 2020. Right now, the VA Central Ohio Health Care System (VA Medical Clinic in Columbus, Ohio) is trying to work within the EHR structure, along with only six (6) other VA facilities.
My question to the VBA is: If the computer glitch to the 32,000 veterans occurred in January of 2023, why hasn’t the VBA rendered a decision on their claims and it is already nine (9) months later? Each one of these veterans is a person who served their country and only want the medical care and compensation that they earned.
Hopefully these 32,000 veterans will get the justice, medical services and disability compensation from the VBA that they deserve!
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the current Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be contacted at: plahovinsak@msn.com.