Summary

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) claims processing procedures for compensation and pension disability benefits, focusing on the extent to which the procedures violated veterans' due process rights or resulted in their unfair treatment.

GAO found that VA: (1) communicated its claims decisions primarily through written notices, which were often unclear and did not provide veterans with the necessary information to make knowledgeable appeals decisions; (2) had no evidence that it sent the notices; (3) did not inform many veterans that it closed their claims because they failed to provide requested information or did not appear for a medical examination; (4) did not properly determine veterans' benefits eligibility, obtained too much or too little evidence, or closed claims before allowing veterans sufficient time to provide requested evidence; (5) frequently did not send courtesy copies of development letters to veterans' representatives, which hindered their assistance; (6) took an average of 9 days to log compensation and pension claims, 2 days more than its goal; (7) attributed the unclear notices largely to its rigid automated notification system, which provided little flexibility to add explanatory information; and (8) suffered from such administrative control weaknesses as ineffective quality control over regional offices claims processing, an inaccurate and unorganized procedural manual, noncompliance with sampling requirements, and staff reductions.