{"id":140744,"date":"2023-05-01T10:15:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T14:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=140744"},"modified":"2023-04-30T18:08:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T22:08:21","slug":"veterans-filing-claims-in-increasing-numbers-va-staff-may-burn-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=140744","title":{"rendered":"Veterans filing claims in increasing numbers, VA staff may burn out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Be-patient-I-will-get-to-your-claim-sometime-next-decade-messy-desk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-140745\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Be-patient-I-will-get-to-your-claim-sometime-next-decade-messy-desk-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Be-patient-I-will-get-to-your-claim-sometime-next-decade-messy-desk-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Be-patient-I-will-get-to-your-claim-sometime-next-decade-messy-desk-333x333.jpg 333w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Be-patient-I-will-get-to-your-claim-sometime-next-decade-messy-desk-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Be-patient-I-will-get-to-your-claim-sometime-next-decade-messy-desk.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After the passing of the PACT Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs has seen an increase of claims being filed. Although this is good news to the veteran community, addressing this increase of veterans completing and submitting claims may burn out the VA staff processing these claims. The burnout, in turn, risks slowing down the processing rate, and increasing backlogs.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">From the Military Times:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Already, 500,000 individuals have filed paperwork for PACT Act compensation for illnesses tied to burn pit exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan, Agent Orange conditions from service in Vietnam, and issues related to radiation exposure at various military sites in the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>Jacobs said VA staff have processed about 14% more claims through mid-April than compared to the same time frame last year, with roughly the same approval rates. But new claims this year are up 31% over the same time frame last year, meaning staff isn\u2019t keeping up with the demand.<\/p>\n<p>VA officials insisted the heavier caseload is a positive sign, because it means more veterans are reaching out to the department for earned benefits. But they acknowledged it increases the need for new staff hires and faster training.<\/p>\n<p>The department currently employs 28,000 claims staffers, its largest total ever, and up more than 1,100 in recent months because of aggressive hiring initiatives, Jacobs said. He added that recent improvements in the claims process such as automating some processing and clarifying approval rules have also helped workers improve efficiency and helped boost morale.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the department is sending out new surveys to veterans starting this week to gauge their satisfaction with the claims process, in an effort to make sure the changes and challenges aren\u2019t adding stress to disabled veterans. The 13-question survey will look at veterans\u2019 trust in the process, use of support services and other issues related to the claims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Military Times has additional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/04\/28\/rising-veteran-disability-claims-could-burn-out-va-staff\/\">information<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the passing of the PACT Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs has seen an increase &hellip; <a title=\"Veterans filing claims in increasing numbers, VA staff may burn out\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=140744\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Veterans filing claims in increasing numbers, VA staff may burn out<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-veteran-health-care","category-veterans-affairs-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}