The Veterans Benefits Administration -- the arm of the Department of Veterans Affairs that adjudicates disability compensation claims -- has processed more than 1 million filings this year and is on track to complete 2.5 million total by year's end, which is roughly a half-million more than it processed in 2024, according to officials.
The department announced in late February it had reached the 1 million claims mark two weeks earlier than in 2024 despite receiving a 16% increase in applications last year.
During a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing Wednesday, VA officials said claims processors are running "8.5% ahead of this time last year," largely because the department has improved training for adjudicators and is implementing new programs that facilitate the process.
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According to Kenneth Smith, the VA's assistant deputy undersecretary for field operations, a new scheduling assistant program uses technology to determine whether an exam or additional medical opinion is necessary, which helps avoid unnecessary delays, and improvements to the Veterans Benefits Management System -- the database that organizes and holds claims -- will go into effect in 2026 and further reduce errors.
"While significant progress has been made, we recognize the need for continuous improvement and adapting to evolve [to meet the] needs of those we serve," Smith said.
As of April 4, the VBA had 923,355 pending claims, with roughly one-quarter of those considered "backlogged," or older than 125 days old.
Even as the VA receives roughly 10,000 new claims a day, it is completing an average 11,000 a day, decreasing the inventory and providing time to work on the backlog, according to Smith. Since the end of February, the VA has reduced the number of 125-day-old or older claims by nearly 20,000, according to VA data.
Lawmakers on the House Veterans Affairs Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs subcommittee called the hearing to find out what the VA is doing to accelerate its claims processes and manage the companies that conduct disability claims exams.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, said he has seen cases in which claims processors make the same mistakes over and over, resulting in deferrals and "months- or yearslong delays."
He also noted that a report last year by the VA Office of Inspector General found the department spent $1.4 million on unnecessary claims exams from April through September 2023.
"The VA is such a wonderful working machine. I say that wholeheartedly. It has its problems, it does, and we should forever be changing in order to keep up with the wants and needs of our veterans, because as we're moving into the younger generations -- our generation of warfighters are coming into the VA -- and there's a lot of us," Luttrell said.
Smith said a significant change that will help is a planned upgrade to the VA's National Work Queue, which metes out claims to adjudicators. According to Smith, the VA is using data analytics and predictive modeling to prioritize claims and will distribute them to employees based on complexity, urgency, and employee experience and skill level beginning in 2026.
Changes to the work queue also will allow employees to request additional work if they have completed what they already were assigned -- a functionality that Jim Swartz, who represents VA workers for the American Federation of Government Employees, said is badly needed.
"One of the most insistent complaints from the claims processors is they don't have enough work to meet the performance metrics, and most waste time asking for more work," Swartz said.
The planned upgrades to claims processing come as VBA employees face possible layoffs this summer. VA officials have said they want the department to return to 2019 staffing levels of 399,957 employees, roughly 80,000 fewer than it has now.
Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, pledged to work with fellow subcommittee members to support the VA's efforts for the veterans but also help its employees do -- and keep -- their jobs.
"It means equipping and empowering the employees who serve the veterans. We need them to be able to do their best work without unnecessary limits or undermining their importance to the system," McGarvey said.
