Review of Claims-Related Documents Pending Destruction at VA Regional Offices

In January 2015, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) received an anonymous allegation that Los Angeles VA Regional Office (VARO) staff were inappropriately shredding mail related to veterans’ disability compensation claims. We could not substantiate Los Angeles VARO staff inappropriately shredded claims related documents prior to our review. However, we identified Los Angeles VARO staff were not following Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) policy on the management of veterans’ and other governmental paper records. In August 2015, we made recommendations to the Los Angeles VARO Director and published the interim report on August 17, 2015. We then conducted unannounced random inspections at 10 other VAROs, to determine if this was a systemic issue. We focused this review on the improper destruction of veterans’ claims related documents at those 10 VAROs. We found VBA’s controls were not effective to prevent VARO staff from potentially destroying claims related documents. We identified 69 of 155 claims related documents improperly scheduled for destruction, which staff at 6 of the 10 VAROs had not properly associated with veterans’ claims folders. Two of these documents affected benefits, 9 had the potential to affect benefits, and 58 did not affect benefits, but were still required to be included in the veterans’ claims folders or VBA’s electronic systems and could have been destroyed thereafter. As we identified problems at 6 of the 10 VAROs, we concluded this is a systemic issue within VBA. Noncompliance with policy, inadequate controls, and outdated guidance can lead to the potential destruction of claims related documents. Both VARO staff and management found VBA’s policy confusing and did not always receive annual training as required. Further, records management staff did not consistently review documents or maintain violation logs. These actions put documents at risk for inappropriate destruction, which could result in loss of claims and medical evidence, incorrect decisions, and delays in claims processing. We recommended the Acting Under Secretary for Benefits ensure VARO compliance with policy, update and clarify policy and procedures, and provide training where needed. The Acting Under Secretary for Benefits concurred with our recommendations. Management’s planned actions are responsive and we will follow up as required.