IG: Former Hawaii VA Supervisor Circumvented Benefits Claims Policy

A former supervisor at the Honolulu Veterans Affairs regional office acted inappropriately when he failed to follow proper procedure for processing benefits claims, according to a new report from the department’s inspector general.

The manager, who has since resigned, removed certain controls between April and August 2014 in the electronic records used to track and identify 143 benefits claims, potentially resulting in some vets receiving more compensation for dependents than they were entitled to because the claims were incomplete, the watchdog concluded.

The employee told the IG that it wasn’t his intention to misrepresent data, but that “he wanted his team to work on the most difficult aspects of their workload, and he did not want to provide them with easy work associated with the control he removed.”

The supervisor also improperly inserted himself into a situation involving a veteran’s rental housing payments, and instructed his staff to disregard a policy involving recoupment of separation pay for that veteran. In addition, he didn’t follow the required policy of informing vets what their reduced monthly benefits would be if they did not fill out the paperwork associated with their dependent status.

The IG report said the supervisor’s actions “misrepresented the [regional office’s] claims inventory and timeliness measures, and impaired its ability to measure and manage its workloads.” The electronic system controls are supposed to remain in place until employees “complete all required actions, including providing notices of benefits decisions to the claimants,” the report stated.

The inspector general investigated the matter after the director of the Honolulu VA regional office in October 2014 asked the watchdog to look into the allegation of data manipulation.

The former supervisor told the IG he was trying to “assist a veteran in need” when he circumvented the policy regarding recoupment of separation pay for a vet who was having trouble paying rent and was going to be evicted. VA is supposed to recoup any separation pay from the Defense Department before paying the vet disability compensation.

In this instance, the supervisor told a veterans service representative to modify the vet’s monthly disability payments by reducing the separation pay recoupment amount, so the vet had more money to pay rent. “This would allow the veteran to receive additional monthly benefits, but would lengthen the time it would take the VA to recoup the $40,000 in separation pay,” the report said. “The proper action should have been to instruct the veteran to submit a request to waive recoupment of his separation pay.”

VA staff has moved to restore the full recoupment amount to the monthly payments, according to the IG.

The IG recommended that the Honolulu VA regional office review and correct as appropriate all the supervisor’s improper actions, ensure staff receive training on properly processing dependency questionnaires, and take appropriate administrative action against the supervisor, if necessary. The head of the regional office agreed with the watchdog’s recommendations, and implemented them.

VA often touts its progress in reducing the disability claims backlog, particularly now after last year’s eruption of the scandal involving patient wait times and data manipulation within the Veterans Health Administration prompted a large-scale reform effort. As of March 28, the disability compensation and pension claims backlog was at 193,662 claims, down from 611,073 claims in March 2013. Claims in the backlog have been pending for more than 125 days. The growing number of claims filed by veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has put pressure on a department already facing numerous challenges.

Last year, the IG found problems with data manipulation and unopened mail at VA facilities in Philadelphia and Baltimore, according to a July 15, 2014, Associated Press report. Lawmakers and the IG office have questioned the VA’s backlog numbers as well as the accuracy of claims processing and the amount of benefits payments to vets.  

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