Breadcrumb

Inspection of VA Regional Office Little Rock, Arkansas

Report Information

Issue Date
Report Number
15-04983-86
VISN
State
Arkansas
District
VA Office
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)
Report Author
Office of Audits and Evaluations
Report Type
Review
Recommendations
1
Questioned Costs
$0
Better Use of Funds
$0
Congressionally Mandated
No

Summary

Summary
The Veterans Benefits Administration has 56 VA Regional Offices (VAROs) and a Veterans Service Center in Wyoming that process disability claims and provide services to veterans. In September 2015, we evaluated the VARO Little Rock to see how well it accomplished this mission. 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. Generally, the VARO Little Rock staff accurately processed the three types of disability claims we reviewed. Overall, 3 of the 34 disability claims (9 percent) reviewed contained processing inaccuracies; resulting in approximately $29,822 in improper benefits payments (including overpayments and underpayments) to 3 veterans. During this inspection, VARO staff incorrectly processed 2 of 27 temporary 100 percent disability evaluations we reviewed. We also noted a significant improvement from our 2012 inspection where 18 of the 30 sampled cases contained errors. We also observed that VARO staff generally processed traumatic brain injury claims accurately for two consecutive benefits inspections. During the 2012 inspection, 1 of the 29 cases sampled contained an error; during the 2015 inspection, all 5 cases completed from January through June 2015, were processed correctly. One of the two Special Monthly Compensation and ancillary benefits claims completed by VARO staff from July 2014 through June 2015 was accurate. VARO staff established the correct dates of claim for 30 cases reviewed in the electronic record. We also determined VARO staff delayed processing 4 of the 30 benefits reduction cases we reviewed. However, despite having to prioritize other workload higher, the VARO managed these cases more timely than 12 of 16 VAROs inspected during fiscal year 2015. Effective management of this workload can reduce the risk of improper payments and provide better stewardship of taxpayer funds. We recommended the Director implement a plan to ensure claims processing staff prioritize actions related to benefits reductions to minimize improper payments to veterans. The Director of VARO Little Rock concurred with our recommendation. Management’s planned actions are responsive and we will follow up as required.

Open Recommendation Image, SquareOpenClosed and Implemented Recommendation Image, CheckmarkClosed-ImplementedNot Implemented Recommendation Image, X character'Closed-Not Implemented
No. 1
Closed and Implemented Recommendation Image, Checkmark
to Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)
We recommended the Little Rock VA Regional Office Director implement a plan to ensure claims processing staff prioritize actions related to benefits reductions to minimize improper payments to veterans.