Audit finds improvement at Fort Harrison
HELENA A recent audit by the Veterans Benefits Administration of the Veterans Administration Regional Benefit Office at Fort Harrison found the agency was accurately processing three types of disability claims reviewed, but found 3 percent of the claims contained processing errors that prompted $2,410 in improper benefit payments.
The Sept. 9 audit by the VA’s Office of the Inspector General noted significant improvement from a 2011 inspection when 10 of 30 cases had errors.
The regional office “accurately processed all 30 traumatic brain injury claims we reviewed — again demonstrating improved accuracy from our 2011 benefits inspection, where three of the 23 sampled cases contained errors,” the audit noted.
In this most recent inspection, the staff incorrectly processed two of 30 temporary, 100 percent disability evaluations, audit officials said.
And the audit states that staff delayed three of the 30 benefits reduction cases reviewed because “management prioritized other workload higher.”
“Effective management of these rating actions can reduce the risk of improper payments and provide better stewardship of taxpayer funds,” the audit states.
The audit recommends the Veterans Regional Offices, also known as VARO, director take action on the 79 temporary, 100 percent disability evaluations and ensure staff timely process benefits reduction cases to minimize improper payments to veterans.
According to the audit, the director of the Fort Harrison VARO concurred with the recommendations.
"We welcome outside reviews of our process, and we’ll work to correct any deficiency that were identified," Adam B. Kinder, public affairs officer for the Fort Harrison regional office, said in an email. "We continue to strive to provide the best decisions for our nation’s heroes."
Karl Pfanzelte served as acting director of the director regional office at the time of the inspection, Kinder said. Loren Miller was appointed director in June.
In his Aug. 18 response, Miller agrees to do the review of the remaining 79 temporary, 100 percent disability evaluations. He set a Nov. 15 date to complete that task.
In regards to implementing a plan to ensure staff timely process claims related to benefits reductions to avoid improper payments, Miller said he was following national policy on reducing the backlog. He said he updated the plan, effective June 16, which specifies that supervisors are responsible for the timely completion of the work.
The audit details the errors as of March 10.
The staff reduced an evaluation for breast cancer from 100 percent to 50 percent disabling. However, the veteran was still being treated, which required a temporary 100 percent evaluation. As a result, the veteran was underpaid $2,410 over seven months.
In another case, a rating veterans service representative did not address all of the disabilities claimed by the veteran as required by policy.
"We could not determine if the error affected benefits because the evidence needed to evaluate the claimed disabilities was incomplete," the audit stated, adding that if left uncorrected, the veterans benefits could be affected.
The audit noted that in November 2011, the staff incorrectly processed 10 of 30 temporary 100 percent disability evaluations, mostly because staff did not have the necessary paperwork to request medical re-examinations as required. That had been corrected in the 2015 review, the audit stated.
The audit stated the Fort Harrison VARO provides services such as benefits, vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance, housing grants, benefits counseling and aid to homeless, elderly, minority and female veterans.
As of April, it 71 full-time employees and 2,735 veterans rating claims pending with 1,595, or 58 percent, pending greater than 125 days.
To read the audit, go to: http://1.usa.gov/1LCYbSN.