Oakland Crisis

Reporter Aaron Glantz at the Bay Citizen asked Bergmann & Moore about the claim delay and error crisis in Oakland.  “With today’s release of VA’s Inspector General’s audits for San Diego and Oakland, a reasonable person can conclude nearly all of the Veterans Benefits Administration remains deeply mired in crisis, with little chance of recovery unless President Obama and Congress act immediately,” said Paul Sullivan, the Managing Director of Public Affairs & Veteran Outreach at Bergmann & Moore.

VA’s Office the Inspector General (OIG) audit found that VA misplaced mail important for deciding Veterans’ disability claims.  After VA’s infamous shredding scandal a few years ago, VA’s promised reforms appear to be insufficient. VA’s OIG report revealed how VA made mistakes in 59% of Veterans’ traumatic brain injury (TBI) claims.  VA isn’t meeting acceptable standards for our new Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with TBI.

Overall, VA’s OIG concluded the Oakland Regional Office improperly processed 39 percent of 90 disability claims audited.  Please note VA’s OIG cautions that results do not represent the overall accuracy of disability claims processing in Oakland.  Any way we look at VA’s OIG investigation, VA’s Oakland Regional Office gets a failing grade.

Lawsuit Update

The report and news coverage about VA’s Oakland office follow in the wake of a landmark lawsuit filed in 2007 by Veterans against VA.  Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and Veterans United for Truth (VUFT) sued the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), alleging long delays and improper denials in healthcare and disability benefits.  VA’s Oakland Regional Office in Northern California was named as a defendant in the case.  Veterans alleged VA’s systemic failures to provide prompt disability benefits and healthcare harmed our Veterans, especially Veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  For example, VA delays and mistakes are causing our Veterans with PTSD to face additional challenges such as unemployability, homelessness, and suicide.

In a stunning development on May 7, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against VCS and VUFT.  Even with more funding, new laws, and greater oversight, Congress hasn’t fixed VA.  With additional funding and staff plus new leaders, VA remains broken.  As a result of the new Appeals Court decision, the plaintiffs in the case vowed to take their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

VA agreed to participate.  Veterans are invited.  Space is limited inside Room 207 at the Veterans War Memorial building in San Francisco.  Veterans interested in attending should call Rep. Speier’s San Mateo office at (650) 342-0300 or visit her official website at www.speier.house.gov.

View Speier Holds Information Session about Oakland Regional Office in a larger map

They advocate the change will reduce stigma that often prevents Veterans from getting jobs, keeping jobs, and/or seeking treatment.  Advocates argue the condition is treatable.

Changing the name of PTSD may reduce anti-Veteran discrimination.  Yet our military and the Department of Veterans Affairs should consider taking additional steps, such hiring more mental health professionals, thus ensuring our Veterans receive prompt and high-quality VA care.  Other steps might include encouraging Veterans to seek mental healthcare, educating the public about PTSD, and promoting hiring of our Veterans.

Fear of retaliation keeps many survivors silent. Next week in Washington advocates from the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), lawmakers, and survivors shine a bright spot light on this issue.

Lawsuits accuse the military of condoning “ a culture which allowed sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.”  Many survivors who report assaults face intimidation and harassment, even an administrative discharge as punishment for reporting the crime.

Will a new military policy announced last month be enough?  Rep. Jackie Speier’s (D-CA) STOP Act removes the chain of command from the investigation process, a move supported by advocates.

Bergmann & Moore is honored to sponsor the SWAN’s Truth and Justice Summit.

Here at Bergmann & Moore, we know VA’s claims crisis goes well beyond Oakland.  Veterans from across the nation call our dedicated staff every day expressing frustration and looking for answers and help with their VA case.

In response to our Veterans’ concerns and excellent news coverage by the Bay Citizen, Bergmann & Moore sent our observations to the Bay Citizen, and our op-ed was published on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday aimed at protecting Veterans and their education benefits from unscrupulous for-profit colleges. Official White House photo by Lawrence Jackson.

President Barack Obama took swift action Friday to curb alleged abuses by some for-profit colleges taking advantage of Veterans.

Obama told soldiers that some for-profit colleges, “harass you into making a quick decision with all those calls and e-mails.  And if they can’t get you online, they show up on post. One of the worst examples of this is a college recruiter who had the nerve to visit a barracks at Camp Lejeune and enroll Marines with brain injuries — just for the money.  These Marines had injuries so severe some of them couldn’t recall what courses the recruiter had signed them up for.”

In response to these practices, the president signed an executive order stopping aggressive recruiting.  His actions come after several lawmakers introduced legislation after a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee report revealed serious problems earlier this year.

The new order directs that colleges provide further critical information to help Veterans make an informed decision prior to enrollment.   The “Know Before You Owe” financial aid form must also be provided to explain about tuition, fees, loans, debt, and graduation rates.

The executive order tells the Department of Defense to restrict recruiters’ access to soldiers on military bases, where some of the alleged aggressive and deceptive recruiting takes place.

Veterans organizations praised the President’s move.  “Some for-profit schools are targeting vets through deceptive recruiting and marketing practices, and failing to deliver the quality, career-ready education that they deserve,” IAVA Founder and Executive Director Paul Reickhoff told reporters. “The President’s order adds much needed transparency to the market and will help thousands of new veterans identify the right school, so they can get the best education and training they need in this job market.”

Veterans have a right to know about the colleges they are considering.  No one should target wounded service members and veterans in an attempt to take advantage of their hard-earned GI Bill education benefits.

A homeless Veteran looks at business attire at a Stand Down in Washington, D.C. in 2011. The number of homeless women Veterans continues to rise, but many have trouble finding assistance. VA photo by Michele Hammonds.

The plight of homeless Veterans remains a serious concern among Veterans advocates. Many new programs, shelters and various other resources are available to reduce significantly the numbers of Veterans without a place to call home.

The Obama administration continues receiving praise for successful efforts toward ending Veteran homelessness by 2015. According to NPR, last year, the number of Veterans homeless on any given night dropped by 12 percent, evidence the President’s plans are working.

However, the number of homeless women Veterans has more than doubled, according to VA. Women Veterans are now  four times more likely than their male counterparts to become homeless.  Resources are needed to meet the increase in demand, especially with the overall increasing population of women Veterans, and women Veterans with children.

VA’s Office of the Inspector General found some women Veterans face serious safety risks.  Some VA-funded facilities place women and children on the same floors as male Veterans and without adequate locks on bedrooms and bathrooms and without barriers between the male and female rooms. The survey also found inadequate lighting in stairwells and hallways.

More women than ever are entering our military and deploying into combat zones, returning home with both the physical and mental health scars of war.

One major change in demographics is the 10,000 new Iraq and Afghanistan war Veteran patients flooding into VA each month.  Of those, more than ten percent are women.

If VA is going to provide effective treatment for all Veterans, then VA must institute a culture change and become more friendly to women Veterans.  Too many Veterans, particularly those who experienced a sexual assault during service, find obtaining prompt and high-quality healthcare at VA to be an intimidating prospect.

The Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General found that VA was regularly missing its own guidelines regarding wait times for mental healthcare. Source: VA OIG's Review of Veterans' Access to Mental Health Care

A stinging report released Monday by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed what many Veterans have long been saying – VA isn’t providing Veterans with mental health care quickly enough.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said “Getting our veterans timely mental health care can quite frankly often be the difference between life and death.”

According to VA statistics, 18 Veterans commit suicide every day. Approximately one quarter of these Veterans are enrolled in the VA health care system; an additional 1,000 Veterans receiving VA care attempt suicide each month.  Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury are serious conditions impacting hundreds of thousands of veterans.

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee requested the audit an held a hearing about the findings Wednesday.  Sen. Murray emphasized the problem is with the “system at large,” and not with the mental health professionals who actually treat Veterans.

Murray said VA staff, “choose to work harder than most of their peers, often for less lucrative benefits, all because they believe in what they do, and because they have a deep and unshaking commitment to our veterans.”

Veterans wait months for needed mental health treatment

According to Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requirements, every Veteran who requests mental health treatment is required to receive an initial assessment within 24 hours and a full mental health assessment within 14 days.  VA claimed in 2011 that the agency met the goal 95 percent of the time.   However, OIG revealed VHA met the goal 49 percent of the time.  OIG reported VHA takes about 50 days to evaluate Veterans (see graph).

Appeals Court declares long waits impede on a Veteran’s constitutional rights

The issue of delays both in treatment and disability claims decisions is not a new problem. In May 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals took the unprecedented step of stepping into the fray.    The Court ruled in Veterans for Common Sense v. Shinseki that long waits for mental health care violate a Veteran’s right to due process.   On Tuesday,  The New York Times admonished VA on their editorial page.

Chronic staff shortages blamed

OIG placed some of the blame on what appears to be chronic staff shortages in VA mental health facilities.

According to the report, “from 2005 to 2010, mental health services increased their staff by 46 percent and treated 39 percent more patients. Despite the increase in mental health care providers, VHA’s mental health care service staff still did not believe they have enough staff to handle the increased workload and consistently see patients within 14 days of the desired date.”

According to a survey of VA mental health professionals released last fall, 70 percent of respondents said they think VA lacks the staff and resources to effectively care for the growing numbers of Veterans needing mental health treatment.

VA hires staff to deal with delays

The day after the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee slammed VA for the agency’s 1.1 million claims backlog, VA announced it will hire an additional 1,900 mental health staff – including 1,600 nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.

“As the tide of war recedes, we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to anticipate the needs of returning Veterans,” VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a statement. “History shows that the costs of war will continue to grow for a decade or more after the operational missions in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended. As more Veterans return home, we must ensure that all Veterans have access to quality mental health care.”

Hiring more staff is a step in the right direction, but, given the reports of staff shortages, the effect of this latest round of hiring may be too little.   We wonder how many veterans died or were evicted from their homes while VA delayed care and benefits?  And who at VA will be held accountable for these systemic problems?

For the first time, VA revealed more than one-in-four disability compensation claims processed by VA’s beleaguered Oakland office are riddled with errors.  Almost all of VA mistakes are against Veterans, forcing them to appeal.

Paul Sullivan, managing director of public affairs & veterans outreach here at Bergmann & Moore, testified before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.  Reporters from the Military Times,  NextGov, and the Washington Post covered the hearing.

Sullivan told Congress that when VBA speeds up claim processing, VA makes mistakes.  Then Veterans must appeal.

Sullivan remains especially concerned about the impact of delays on veterans with psychological conditions.  Being forced to wait months or years for healthcare and disability benefits for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and military sexual trauma (MST) can often worsen a Veteran’s health.

VBA’s Director of Compensation Service Tom Murphy confirmed VBA leaders had met with Veterans advocates, including Sullivan, and were willing to grant attorneys and agents access to their clients’ computer and paper VA files.

Murphy also pledged to lawmakers that staff at Oakland’s VBA Regional Office would receive additional training in coming months to improve productivity and quality.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), a member of the Committee, admonished VA during his opening remarks: “VA should remember that ‘VA’ should stand for ‘Veteran Advocate’ and not ‘Veteran Adversary.’”

Wednesday’s hearing was titled, “From the Inside Out: A Look at Claims Representatives’ Role in the Disability Claims Process.”  Bergmann & Moore testified on behalf of the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates.

The hearing was held as investigative journalist Aaron Glantz of the Bay Citizen reported on very serious problems our Veterans face at VBA’s Oakland Regional Office:

April 15: “Veterans’ Disability Claims Buried Under Paperwork: The average wait for a decision in the Bay Area is now 313 days.”

April 16: “VA Pledges to Overhaul Disability Claims System: Promise comes after The Bay Citizen reveals Bay Area veterans wait an average of 313 days.”

April 19: “Send Immediate Help’ to Oakland’s VA, Say Bay Area Reps: Letter to veterans secretary cites ‘extreme disappointment’ over decision not to overhaul troubled office”

Read our newsletter online at http://www.vetlawyers.com/newsletters/Spring2012Newsletter.pdf

Join our list: If you want to join our mailing list and receive a printed copy of our newsletter in the mail, please send an email with your name and mailing address to kbecker@vetlawyers.com.