Audit of Fiduciary Program’s Management of Field Examinations

The Fiduciary Program was established to protect veterans and other beneficiaries who, due to injury, disease, or age, are unable to manage their VA benefits. Field examinations are a critical tool for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) to assess the competency and welfare of these beneficiaries. The Office of Inspector General conducted this audit to assess whether the Fiduciary Program scheduled and completed field examinations within timeliness standards. We concluded VBA did not meet timeliness standards for about 45,500 (42 percent) of approximately 109,000 pending and completed field examinations during calendar year (CY) 2013. We followed-up by examining reported program performance for the first 9 months of CY 2014 and identified approximately 21,900 field examinations not completed and exceeding VBA timeliness standards, representing an approximately 15 percent increase. This occurred because Field Examiner staffing did not keep pace with the growth in the beneficiary population, VBA did not staff the hubs according to their staffing plan. During CY 2013, the beneficiary population under the supervision of the Fiduciary Program grew 10 percent, while the number of Field Examiners assigned grew 2 percent. VBA’s staffing plan set a target of 1 Field Examiner for every 325 beneficiaries. However, as of September 30, 2014, VBA employed 1 Field Examiner for every 386 beneficiaries supervised under the Fiduciary Program. Untimely field examinations placed about $360.7 million in benefit payments and about $487.6 million in estate values at increased risk. In addition, VBA did not schedule required field examinations for a projected 1,800 beneficiaries in CY 2013. Lapses in scheduling occurred because of inadequate management oversight. As a result, beneficiaries’ well-being and approximately $36.1 million in benefit payments were placed at increased risk.