so
today we're going to talk about the va claims and appeals delays
and we're going to explain what's happening with va joining me today is christian
mctarnigan an attorney at chisholm chisholm and kilpatrick and my name is robert chisholm
i'm one of the partners at chisholm chisholm and kilpatrick veterans continue to experience delays
at nearly every stage of the va claims and appeals process this is frustrating
va's already confusing adjudication process was made more complicated by the introduction
of the ama system in 2019 and was drastically slowed down by the corona virus pandemic the
addition of three new presumptive conditions for agent orange the reviews of blue water navy claims
and the recently announced particulate matter presumptions have also contributed to this backlog
in this video we will explain why your claim may be delayed based on where you are in the process
and discuss what va is doing to remedy these issues so robert you had mentioned a little bit
about the backlog could you talk a little bit more specifically about what you mean by that
sure currently there are about 260 000 claims that are backlogged as of october 2021. this includes
claims that normally require development and the decision by a va claims processor
such claims include disability compensation pension benefits dependency and indemnity
compensation for survivors this backlog accounts for both original and supplemental claims but does
not include appeals va considers backlogged claims for benefits to be those pending for more than
125 days in an effort to reduce this backlog va hired 2 000 new claims processors in october 2021
additionally va intends to mandate overtime work for its current processors
to cut into this backlog this work would be compensated using emergency pandemic funding
and va aims to cut its backlog claims down from 260 000 to 100 000 by april 2024
however delays and issues in other areas have also contributed to this backlog
so there's a delay in processing these claims but there's also a delay
in actually getting the veterans records isn't that right robert there have been a
lot of records related challenges for va right so for example let's talk about the national
personnel record center which is home to all personal related records for the military
veterans need these service and medical records as as part of their disability claims the pileup of
requests for records at the nprc has grown to over 500 000 requests for records since march
2020. on october 18 2021 nprc the national personnel record center increased its staff
to 45 percent of its pre-pandemic on-site capacity this has enabled the center
to respond more quickly to emergency requests and service a larger number of requests than it has
over the past several months however it's still operating below its pre-pandemic capacity
so there's also been some delay in mailing isn't that right robert
that's true and there are two aspects to the mail delay the first one is va's own internal
mailing that is getting a ratings decision or a board decision mailed out has become
backlogged and the second part of this is the u.s postal service as a whole has slowed down
so many veterans advocates have noticed that va outgoing mail is currently delayed by about one
month in addition there are continued delays in mail processing at the board level and we
don't anticipate those delays being corrected for the until another three to six months
so most veterans have to attend a cmp exam a competent compensation and pension exam
in order for va to decide their claim could you tell us a little bit about the cmp exam backlog
sure in april 2020 as a result of covet 19 most in-person cnp exams were paused
this led to a backlog of requests for examinations
as of march 2021 there were about 352 thousand pending exams this means there are over 212 000
more exams pending than there was the norm in pre-pandemic times furthermore the use of
contracted examiners that means not va examiners but outside contract examiners over those employed
directly by va has been a source of delay largely due to the shutdowns caused by the pandemic
va relies on contractors for over 90 percent of the cnp exams many people have expressed concern
about the capabilities and the qualifications of these vendors poorly trained or ill-equipped
contractors could lead to more appeals from veterans many contractors are not located
near claimants meaning some veterans must travel hundreds of miles for these contract examinations
so so far we've been talking about claims mail
exams so let's move into appeals does the board of veterans appeals have a backlog right now
i've been doing this for 30 years and i can tell you the board has always had a backlog and the
backlog has gotten worse right so there are two parts to the backlog there's the legacy appeals
and then there's the ama appeals as of october 17 2021 there are a total of 198 330 appeals
pending at the board of veterans appeals 91 000 of these appeals are pending in the legacy system
while 106 000 are pending in the new appeal system the ama the current legacy docket date is october
2019. so what does the legacy docket date mean that means the date on which the va 9 appeal was
filed so if you filed a va 9 appeal before august 2019 your case at the board is going to be decided
soonish it was filed after august 2019 they haven't hit your docket date yet so in the ama
system there's a hearing lane that veterans can select and my understanding is there's kind of a
backlog within a backlog because there's hearing delays currently as well right that's correct of
the appeals currently pending in the ama 59 000 of those are in the hearing lane this is more
than double the number of repeals in the evidence and direct dockets many veterans feel hearings
are the only way to be truly heard by the va in an effort to decrease this backlog the bva is
hiring an additional 35 to 45 veterans law judges as well as additional support staff and attorneys
here's the thing hearings are resource heavy they take more time and the bva currently does not have
the staff to manage the demand of hearings there are scheduling challenges technical challenges and
the lack of travel boards so with all of this in mind how is cck helping affected clients
first we are ensuring that va has everything it needs to make a decision on your claim reducing
further delays so if your case needs a medical opinion we're going to get the medical opinion
and submit it to the va if it needs a form we're going to help you fill out that form
and submit that to the va if it needs a statement from you or a witness a buddy statement we're
going to submit that to the va so there's no delay in getting all the evidence into the case
second we'll update you on your claim we will contact you when your case is advanced in the
adjudication process however please remember that while we would do our best to move things along va
is nevertheless a slow bureaucracy and is hampered by the backlogs we've been discussing here today
updates may not come as quickly as you would like but please be patient and trust that we
are working diligently on your case we can help if your claim was adversely affected by these delays
so thank you very much for listening be sure to check out our youtube channel
as we're going to be able to continue to update everyone about va delays and
whether it's getting better or worse in the coming months
you