WASHINGTON, DC – The House of Representatives today passed the FY2015 Military Construction and Veteran Affairs Appropriations bill which included provisions authored by Rep. Sam Farr’s, D-Carmel, to improve our nation’s health care system for veterans. Farr included a provision in the bill that requires the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to develop a proactive plan to prevent any future claims backlogs. Additionally, Farr called on the VA to increase the number of mental health professionals in the VA system by hiring all accredited therapists and not just those with one type of accreditation.
“Access to quality health care is a promise we made to America’s veterans when they put on their uniform,” said Farr. “Ending the current backlog of claims is only the first step in upholding that promise. We need to also ensure that not a single veteran ever has to wait for their benefits again.”
In order to end the backlog, overwhelmed VA Regional Offices are currently brokering out work to offices with fewer claims. The Oakland Regional Office, which services all of northern California and had the nation’s longest backlog, is brokering approximately 19% of its incoming claims to other offices. Additionally, the Baltimore office and Chicago office are brokering approximately 56% and 33% of their incoming claims, respectively. This need to broker out claims indicates the workforce at the heavily utilized offices is still not adequate to serve their constituents.
Even more alarming, as the size of the active duty military force draws down, the VA will have to process even more claims than are currently in the system. Without a plan to address future claims, the VA could face another backlog as demand increases. Farr’s language addresses this by requiring the VA to submit a report within 6 months outlining future staffing requests needed to prevent another backlog.
“The VA is still focused on the problem it created,” said Farr. “Ending the backlog has to be their top priority but it also needs to start looking forward so that the next backlog never happens.”
In addition to a backlog in claims for benefits, veterans are also experiencing a delay in seeing a mental health professional because there are not enough practitioners to meet the current demand. In California, 95% of Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are barred from VA employment under current VA standards requiring a degree from only one specified national accreditation program, when there are many other regional accredited programs recognized by the Department of Education