Veterans Benefits Administration: Review of the Disability Claims and Appeals Processes

At the request of Congress, the National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) conducted an independent review of the progress of VBA in reducing the disability claims backlog since 2010 and examined the increased appeals inventory over the past two years.

VBA reached an important milestone on August 25, 2015, overcoming a backlog peak of 611,000 claims in March 2013, when the number of backlogged claims fell below 100,000. Since that time, the backlog has remained at around 70,000-80,000 claims. Alongside these successes, however, there has been a large increase in the appeals inventory, which effectively doubled from 2014 to 2016. As of January 2016, over 443,000 Veterans were waiting for final appeal adjudication.

The Academy assembled a Panel of seven Fellows, many of whom are Veterans, with broad experience in a variety of fields, including process reform, information technology, healthcare, and the military. The Panel took guidance from a study team of seven who carried out the review based on a structured study approach.