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VA Office of Inspector General
Claims storage filing area at the VA Regional Office in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been dogged for years by complaints that the claims process is painfully slow. Now, a recent inspection by the VA Office of Inspector General shows exactly how difficult it can be to physically manage the volume of those cases.
At the VA's Winston-Salem Regional Office in North Carolina, an estimated 37,000 claims folders had been stored on top of file cabinets, according to the Inspector General's report released last week. Those piles had been stacked two feet high and two rows deep. The file cabinets were so close to each other that drawers could not be opened completely. More files had been stored in boxes on the floor and stacked along the wall.
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A load-bearing study found that the weight of the files exceeded the floor's capacity by 39 pounds per square foot.
"The excess weight of the stored files has the potential to compromise the structural integrity of the sixth floor of the facility," said the Inspector General report. "We noticed floors bowing under the excess weight to the extent that the tops of file cabinets were noticeably unlevel throughout the storage area."
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Inspectors found that the filing system had created an "unsafe environment" for employees; one worker suffered a minor shoulder injury in 2011 when folders fell from a filing cabinet. The filing system also put the records at risk, potentially exposing them to fire and water damage as well as loss and misplacement.
The inspection of the office was conducted in May as part of a nationwide effort to evaluate regional offices.
The Winston-Salem Regional Office, with 680 employees, serves more than 770,000 veterans in North Carolina. The state is home to six military installations, including Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune, which rank sixth and eighth, respectively, in the largest number of discharges in the country.
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Staff at the office began having trouble storing files in 2005 when that location, as part of a national initiative, started collecting and processing disability claims prior to a service member's discharge. The office was one of two regional centers in the country to handle such cases, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Staff tried to transfer or retire 50,000 files in recent years, as well request more storage space. The office was denied extra room because of a lack of money and few external storage options.
Courtesy Winston-Salem Regional VA Office
Filing cabinets at the Winston-Salem Regional VA Office in a photo provided to NBC News on August 14, 2012.
In June, after learning that the floor load exceeded capacity, the office removed all folders sitting on file cabinets and placed them on separate floors. The office also intends to purchase a high-density file system for the basement, which will cost an estimated $405,000.
"We are on track to comply with (the report's) recommendations," the Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement to NBC News.
VA is working with the Department of Defense to create an integrated electronic medical record that could be used between both agencies, but it will not launch until at least 2017.
Rebecca Ruiz is a reporter at NBC News. Follow her on Twitter here.
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I'm a 56 year old disabled combat vet of Desert Storm. I got 100 % disability with Social Security in 7 weeks. Been fighting VA for 20 years & only got to 50% in Jun of this year-19years & 11months after leaving service. Have an appeal on-going for 16 years. Oh, been on oxygen 18 hrs a day since Mar 2010. Do you really think the Regional offices of VA give a damn about anyone. Delay,stall,delay & stall until vet just gives up or dies.
Your benefits would have been more if you had killed anyone there. But since you didn't fire a shot, well, you get pushed to the back of the line. Sucks to be you.
The VA is overworked big time. With so many people out of jobs, you would think they could hire a bunch of people to help with paperwork and claims. I guess that just makes too much sense.
The call them 'Computers' VA. The businesses all started using them to avoid that problem and besides, not only will your floor easily support the hard drives required to store all that, you'll actually be able to find it again when you need it!
It seems to me that those who manage these files are ensuring their job security....
As opposed to streamlining the process?
I see why many fellow veterans complain about the VA losing their records.
Maybe Congress could find some money for this to sort it out, as it is too bizarre. "Yes, thank you. We're sorry to hear your leg was blown off. We appreciate your service, but we've lost your file, so bugger off."
They could hire some people -- perhaps unemployed vets! -- to digitize all this stuff and kill three birds, as it were, with one stone:
Got to be a win win win! Of course, it won't happen at least until after the election because the ultra-cons wouldn't want any bills to pass in Congress lest the President be given credit for having done something useful.
Sigh..
WOW!!! That picture is the epitome of how our government is run. A clusterfu(k.
NO.
It's the epitome of intentionally underfunding an agency, then blaming its inevitable failure on the concept of government itself.
This is inexcusable.Government workers don't know how to work a full day for a full days pay.Mmaybe it would behoove the government to hire some private sector unemployed people to get the job done.
These are other Americans you are talking about. Not boogeymen. They work the same as you.
This is about physical space - not the number of quality of employees. If the VA does not have the money to rent or purchase that space, it is not the fault of its employees or their work ethic.
So why aren't we storing all these records on computers? The price of a rackmount server and a few dozen computers to network together would be a drop in the bucket.
Paul Ryan's budget doesn't even have the word veteran in it Mike in Delray.
Universities, students and volunteers step up! This is a basically a problem of data management. This problem is ideal for volunteerism/ work study programs. Let's use technology and volunteers to attack this problem. Would be great a Public Relations Project for any university/organization to take on.
The
real problem is veterans are filling benefits claims and it is taking over a
year for them to let you know all your paperwork is expired let alone get a
completion. I put in for a dependent claim on August 22, 2011 and my claim is
still in the first phase. 10 years ago all I had to do was make a phone call
and fax over the necessary documents and the money was there in one to two months. If Washington DC wants to create jobs this is a great place to start. The article stated 680 employees to 770,000 vets in NC, which is 11,300 cases per person. Assuming all 680 employees work in the claims department, if not the number is higher. I am upset because my file is probably lost. I have spoken to them on numerous occasions with no success. They only apologize and tell me they are working on it. I am entitled to my benefits and having to wait because of a filing system problem and not enough employees is unsatisfactory. They need to hire more people and look at making certain processes more simple.
This is what happens when half the population has been in the military. We need more soldiers.
Uhhh...those soldiers are the reason you enjoy what you do today. This isn't about them. It's about the archaic ways of our government. I shudder to think how much more of our government is mis-managed. Oh...wait...no I don't. I know all of it is like this.
The real problem is veterans are filling benefits claims and it is taking over a year for them to let you know all your paperwork is expired let alone get a completion. I put in for a dependent claim on August 22, 2011 and my claim is still in the first phase. 10 years ago all I had to do was make a phone call and fax over the necessary documents. If Washington DC wants to create jobs this is a great place to start. The article stated 680 employees to 770,000 vets in NC, which is 11,300 cases per person. Assuming all 680 employees work in the claims department, if not the number is higher. I am upset because my file is probably lost. I have spoken to them on numerous occasions with no success. They only apologize and tell me they are working on it. I am entitled to my benefits and having to wait for over a year is unsatisfactory. VA needs to hire more people and make certain processes simply with less hassle.
Again...someone has to wade through the hoarders room to get your information...'now where did I put that file...hmmm'. If it were digitized on a database it wouldn't take so long. But hey...they're busy digitizing presidential libraries so you have to wait. I mean...all you did was risk your life for freedom.
I can see my file through the pile, been setting there for months !!!!!!
This is what you get when people say they want "limited government." Now how is putting more money in the hand of "job creators" going to fix this mess? I predict the government will hire private defense contractors who claim to have expertise at "document management" with "security clearances" at an exorbitant amount to put these records online and the actual cost will exceed projected expenditures by millions. They will suck the lifeblood out of the taxpayers and make a fortune. It would be cheaper to hire government clerks. I live in the Washington, DC area and see this happening all the time.
Hire some people to scan that @!$%#!
LOL...you must be a fan of big government.
Digital is about the only way to go. But many of these veterans were in the service before the computer revolution, and the cost of digitizing their documents is huge. I know, I worked in the document scanning business for a number of years. Scanning is simple... the filing and metadata collection (attaching names, SSNs, and other searchable data to the electronic files) is time consuming, tedious, and prone to human error. But at the end of the day it comes down to money. And the VA doesn't exactly have piles of cash lying around.
Again...they can scan the books in a presidential library....
CORRECTION
680 employees to 770,000 cases, 1,132 per employee.....still a large ratio
Maybe they could offshore it. No wait...the government doesn't get a tax break for off shoring. 'Hi...thank you for calling Pizza Hut....my name is Abu'
Bush sent our youth to war, then cut the VA budget - Image Romney and his buddies have the same thing in mind, send our youth to fight a senseless war to make their wall street friends richer and cut VA even more.
I've had to call the VA in Murfreesboro TN looking for payment for some SUPER old ambulance claims, i spoke with a lady who said, "Gurl, we got claims ALL OVER this building, i can't tell you nuthin 'bout a single on of 'em." That's the honest truth. So, now, we just accept the VA coverage and hope to God they pay one day....they do, sometimes...years later.
Wouldn't it be patriotic if some of these zillionaires donating big bucks to political campaigns would instead donate a wad of cash to the government to get these documents scanned? On second thought, maybe if they didn't have so many tax loopholes and opportunities to hide their money in overseas accounts, our government would be able to afford to fix this mess. I really have a hard time with these guys running around with flag pins, standing in front of rows of Old Glory, singing patriotic songs, talking about what a land of opportunity we live in, and reflexively saying a cursory "Thank you for your service," when they have been the sons and daughters of privilege and never served this country in uniform. If you are a serviceman, servicewoman, or veteran reading this, I'm sending you a sincere message of thanks and acknowledgement that your sacrifices and the character you bring to your families, communties, and workplaces is what truly makes this country great.
Read it and weep folks, these are the mopes that are going to be responsible for YOUR health care starting next years. They are incompetent politically appointed hacks. Enjoy!
Delay and Deny and maby the veteran will just die. That is what some vets are saying.
Now here is a chance for the Service Personnel who have served in the armed forces to have job's. Seem's maybe 100 new jobs to begin with, But no, that would be money going to who needs it, not against the wealthy.