Legal Meets Practical

As has been heavily covered by the media lately, if Congress can’t find a deal by this Monday, the government will shut down. This will leave just enough resources to cover the essential services of the government.

So what does this mean for veterans? What about veteran healthcare? What about pension or compensation benefits or GI Bill checks?

The good news is VA healthcare is protected. In 2011, the veterans’ community banded together to convince Congress to fund the VA one year in advance. This means that VA healthcare will be funded for an additional year beyond the government shut down. A bill is also pending before Congress that would fully fund the VA’s discretionary budget a year ahead of schedule. (Access information about the bill, HR 813, here).

Beyond VA healthcare, it is unclear how veterans will be affected by government shutdown. Based on past experience, it appears that VA compensation and pension benefits will be unaffected. However, as there has been no government shutdown since the Post-911 GI Bill was passed, it is unclear how these benefits will be impacted by a government shutdown. (Access information about the post-911 GI Bill here).

One area that will likely be affected is VA disability compensation claims processing. Since March, the VA backlog (which includes only initial claims), has decreased by nearly 30% because of priority placed on these claims and overtime. If the government shuts down, the VA will lose administrative support, and claims processing may be slowed or may even shut down. It is also unlikely whether mandatory overtime – a key component of the VA’s major process in eliminating the backlog – will continue. It is also possible that VA hotlines and customer service desks will close.

Hopefully, Congress will act to make sure the impact on veterans is as minimal as possible. As for me, I’m hoping Congress finds a solution before the end of the weekend. But if it doesn’t, at least we have an idea of what to expect.

[As a note, the best article I found on this issue was published in The Washington Post, which covers how every government shutdown has ended. (This article may be accessed here)].

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No one likes writing their resume, and this situation isn’t any different. But does it really have to be this difficult?

As many veteran small business owners know, in order to participate in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans First Contracting Program, a business must be listed in the VA’s VetBiz Vendor Information Pages (VetBiz). VetBiz is administered by the Center for Veterans Enterprise (CVE).

When applying to be listed in VetBiz, one of the necessary documents a business must submit is a resume. The CVE asks for the resume of all owners, directors, partners, officers, and key personnel. The CVE’s rationale for requiring resumes is these will allow the Examination team to determine each individual’s position within the applicant company, their jobs and responsibilities, as well as address experience and possible outside employment.

As a certified CVE counselor, there are a number of red flags I look for in a resume:

• Does a resume show that someone other than the veteran is the President (or highest officer)? 
• Does a resume list outside employment that might prohibit the veteran from showing he works for the business on a full-time basis?
• Does a resume demonstrate that someone other than the veteran holds a license necessary for the business to operate?
• Does a resume reflect a lack of management experience possessed by the veteran?

These are all elements the CVE considers when determining whether the veteran “controls” the business applicant, which is an eligibility requirement for listing in VetBiz. In order to show that a veteran controls the business, it must be demonstrated that the veteran is responsible for the day-to-day and long-term management of the company, that he works full-time during normal business hours, and that he possesses the requisite management experience. Failure to show any of these is grounds for denial.

I completely agree that the CVE should do what is necessary to make sure that a veteran is truly in charge of a business seeking verification on VetBiz. Towards that end, a resume can be a necessary component in making that determination.

At the same time, the resume requirement can be an unnecessary thorn in veteran owners’ sides. The CVE specifically requires resumes to contain the following information: education and training received; former employers; dates of employment; position titles and responsibilities; and present employer, date of hire and position title and responsibilities. This is very precise information, and if a veteran does not submit a resume that conforms to these parameters, he will receive a notice from CVE that additional information/documentation (ie, a revised resume) is necessary in order to process his application. This is frustrating, especially for the veteran business owner who has been running his own shop for decades. Should he really be required to draft an entirely new resume to fit these requirements?

The CVE has good intentions here, and I understand the general need for a resume. However, in some instances, veterans should be afforded some slack. As long as a resume enables the CVE to determine whether a veteran is truly managing the applicant business and has the experience to do so, it shouldn’t be concerned with whether he listed his position title for a job he held five years ago in an unrelated field (and yes, the CVE will ask the veteran to revise and re-submit his resume if he forgets to include that!).

Also, if a veteran operates a solo proprietorship or single-member LLC or corporation, and has done so for a number of years, he should be permitted to submit a Letter of Explanation in a resume’s place. Don’t make the Vietnam veteran who has successfully run his business for thirty years jump through that hoop. He’ll get stuck, and you want him in the VetBiz program. After all, isn’t the point of the program to have as many eligible businesses listed as possible?

Did you find this article informative? If so, sign up for my weekly blog at: https://legalmeetspractical.com. Also, the homepage for the CVE and the VetBiz program may be accessed at: http://vetbiz.gov.

When will VA records all be electronic? I’ll give you a hint. See that pig over there? How are its flying lessons coming?

The developments aren’t highly publicized, but the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense(DOD) have spent the last half a decade trying to convert their paper files to electronic files. Combined, the departments spent at least $1.3 billion during the last four years trying unsuccessfully to develop a single electronic health records system between the two departments. The result? Veterans’ disability claims are piling up in paper files.

For a veteran in the disability claims process, these records are critical. They include DOD service and health records needed by the VA to decide veterans’ disability ratings and the compensation they will receive for their injuries.

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2008 mandated that the DOD and VA secretaries “develop and implement electronic health-record systems or capabilities that allow for full interoperability of personal health information between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.” However, after several years and several failed plans, neither the DOD nor the VA is able to completely access the other’s electronic records. Meanwhile, each has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on upgrades to its information technology and on attempts to improve interoperability between their systems.

In 2011, the agencies decided the solution would be to create a single electronic healthcare record together. But after two years, the departments’ secretaries in February of this year canceled the plan with little public explanation. They then announced they would upgrade their own electronic healthcare records systems and build software that would allow the two systems to exchange files.

The VA has also invested $12 billion over five years in a project called Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, or T4, to upgrade its own technologies. One of the major goals of this initiative is for the upgrade to include interoperable software that can be used between the VA and the DOD.

Interestingly, the VA seemed to be investing in this plan well before the joint deal with the DOD fell through. The VA signed a $80.3 multi-year contract with a company called Harris Corp almost a year before it gave up on devising a single electronic health record system with the DOD.

Converting all of these paper files to electronic files is no easy task. No one disputes that. But at the same time, surely there is a more efficient and cost-effective way. The VA’s current scanning system – the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) – cost $480 million between 2009 and 2012, yet the VA never set deadlines for the records to be scanned. The result is that as of mid-summer of this year, only thirty percent of paper claims had been scanned.

And it’s important these documents are scanned in, and properly. It is much, much easier to lose a paper file than an electronic one. And remember the great fire of 1973? This was when a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis (fun trivia fact – my dad works there) destroyed 16 to 18 million military personnel fires. Also, electronic files can be more easily accessed and transmitted.

The VA has announced the goal of all VA files to be processed within 125 days. But in order to meet this goal, these paper files must be scanned into the system. Some Regional Offices such as Roanoke are ahead of the curve, but for the most part, Regional Offices lag far behind. And as a consequence, the veterans suffer.

This is an electronic age. The VA needs to get up to speed, or our nation’s veterans will pay the price.

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This news would be shocking if it didn’t relate to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA).

Last week a News21 investigation revealed that quotas set by the VA effectively encourage claims adjusters to finish the “easy” claims first and push claims requiring an ounce of mental sweat to the bottom of the pile.

These more complex claims are often set aside by workers so they can keep their jobs, meet performance standards or, in some cases, collect extra pay, said VA claims processors and union representatives in a Washington Post article released on August 25. The sad thing is this practice makes sense from a practical standpoint – if a claims processor’s bonus is based on the number of claims processed, it is in the claims processor’s best interest to focus on the claims that require less effort and a shorter period of time. Also, it’s simply easier.

The VA’s valuing of quantity over quality is well-documented. In fact, in 2010 the VA stopped giving its employees performance credit for “supplemental development,” which included tasks such as calling and sending follow-up letters to veterans and follow-up requests for military documents and medical records. As you may note, all of those tasks contribute to the expedient and accurate resolution of a claim.

In 2008, Congress ordered the VA to review its work-credit system, which is used to evaluate employee performance. A 75-page report produced by the Center for Naval Analysis in 2009 recommended the VA address perceptions that quantity receives more emphasis than quality, by changing the tasks that receive points to better reflect the actual work.

Unfortunately, the points still reward those claims processors who have the numbers, not those who tackle and resolve the more difficult claims. A claims processor in the Reno, Nevada Regional Office told News21 that the work-credit system “breeds cheating” and that he has seen employees who aren’t making enough points go into “survival mode” and process only easy claims. Shifting performance points to reward backlog-related work would be more effective, said the worker.

The consequences of these practices are all negative. It is a negative consequence that veterans are punished when their claims require additional effort (such as the scheduling of a medical examination). It is a negative consequence that claims processors are pressured to produce work of higher quantity than quality, as many of these workers genuinely care about the plights of these veterans but are constrained by the VA system and its processes. And it is a negative consequence that because of the imposition of quotas, many rating decisions contain errors. According to the Washington Post, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (which processes appeals from Regional Office decisions) found that in 2012 almost three out of four appealed claims were wrong or based on incomplete information.

As a veterans advocate, I was ashamed to learn of the findings from News21 investigation. Our veterans deserve much, much better than this. Unfortunately, this story contains more of the same information that has been published for years. I know the VA is incredibly backlogged, and I know many individuals in the VA care about making the process better. But stories like these make me wonder if it could possibly be any worse.

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