Inspection of VA Regional Office Buffalo, New York

We evaluated the Buffalo VA Regional Office (VARO) to see how well it accomplishes its mission. We found the VARO staff did not accurately process 17 of 89 disability claims (19 percent) we reviewed. We sampled claims we considered at increased risk of processing errors, thus these results do not represent the overall accuracy of disability claims processing at this VARO. Eight of 30 temporary 100 percent disability evaluations we reviewed were inaccurate, generally because the VARO did not prioritize the processing of these cases to reduce benefits. This error rate has improved significantly in comparison with errors found in 17 of 30 claims reviewed in 2011. These errors resulted from staff not establishing suspense diaries in the electronic record for future VA medical reexaminations. VARO staff incorrectly processed 3 of 30 traumatic brain injury (TBI) claims because of a lack of training on VBA rating policies. This is a significant improvement since our 2011 review where we found 8 of 11 TBI claims had processing errors. Staff also incorrectly processed 6 of 29 claims related to Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) and ancillary benefits, generally due to a lack of training. VARO managers still did not comply with VBA policy for completing Systematic Analyses of Operations (SAOs). In 2014, we determined 6 of the 11 mandatory SAOs lacked thorough analyses or were not completed at all. Staff also delayed completing 12 of 30 rating reduction claims we reviewed because VARO management did not prioritize this work. We recommended the Buffalo VARO Director implement plans to ensure staff prioritize benefits reductions cases and take appropriate action on the 206 temporary 100 percent disability evaluations remaining from our inspection universe. The Director should also implement plans to monitor the effectiveness of staff training and second-signature reviews of SMC cases, as well as ensure complete SAOs. The VARO Director concurred with all recommendations.