ICYMI: New VA OIG Report Details Backlog in St. Petersburg

This week, the VA OIG released a report titled: "Review of Alleged Problems with Veterans Benefits Management Systems and Claims Processing," which details significant backlogs at the St. Petersburg VA Office. Thousands of Veterans' requests are still pending review, leaving Veterans waiting over 100 days for a response. "This new report is cause for grave concern," said Congressman Gus Bilirakis. "It is clear, despite our best efforts, the VA's flaws persist. As Vice Chair of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I remain committed to improving the VA and preventing such delays for our nation's heroes. These inefficiencies must be addressed immediately so that our Veterans may receive the care they have earned and deserve. As I've said many times before, our Veterans deserve much better. It is our responsibility as a nation to work together for such a noble endeavor."

Veterans waited longer for benefits through St. Pete office, VA finds

Veterans who filed benefits claims at the St. Petersburg Regional Office waited longer in 2014 because claims materials weren't prepared properly, a Department of Veterans Affairs report says.

Inspectors also found that personal information was inadequately stored at a contractor scanning center, posing a risk of identity theft, according to the report by the VA Office of Inspector General.

Because of the problems, the average wait time at the St. Petersburg office increased from 152 days in June 2014 to 179 days the following December, the report says.

Investigators found a backlog of nearly 1,600 boxes and 42,000 packages sent by mail, with each package containing an unspecified number of individual claims, the report says….

Read more here.

Report: Veterans' claims backlogged by the thousands at St. Petersburg VA office

More than 41,900 mail packages with unprocessed veterans' claims materials piled up at the Veterans Affairs office in St. Petersburg last year, according to a new report by the department's inspector general.

The inspector general also found that 1,600 boxes of claims materials from the St. Petersburg office swamped a scanning facility in Georgia — and raised doubts about whether the information had been securely stored.

"We observed a large amount of hard copy sensitive veteran information haphazardly commingled with contract company documentation, excess office furniture, and empty computer boxes that appeared to be trash," investigators wrote in the report.

Read more here.

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