After two weeks of a growing backlog of disability claims older than 125 days, the Veterans Benefits Administration returned to positive territory last week, chipping away slightly at clearing its oldest cases.

Just under 4,000 of the oldest claims were cleared last week, leaving 384,000 to go and returning the agency to the backlog level of late October. Two weeks of backsliding happened in late November as well as late December that ended a streak of progress that began in mid-summer 2013. During that streak, about 6,000 of the oldest cases were being cleared in the average week.  Since then, an average of 1,650 a week have been, based on data released in the VBA’s weekly “Monday Morning Work Workload Reports.”

Despite recent backsliding, there was overall substantial improvement in the past year, with about 23% fewer claims pending overall and more than a third fewer waiting over 125 days. The percentage taking over 125 days had been cut by 11 percentage points.

Weekly progress since mid-summer

Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.

View earlier weekly summaries.

The Veterans Benefits Administration posted its second week in a row of growth in backlogged disability claims, saying in its weekly progress report that claims older than 125 days grew by nearly 11,000 last week.

What had been smooth progress against the huge backlog that began in mid-summer 2013 reversed in November and for the rest of the year see-sawed between the positive and negative, based on the weekly “Monday Morning Work Workload Reports.”

Despite some backsliding since Thanksgiving, there was overall substantial improvement in the past year, with about 23% fewer claims pending overall and more than a third fewer waiting over 125 days. The percentage taking over 125 days had been cut by 11 percentage points.

Weekly progress since mid-summer

Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.

View earlier weekly summaries.

For the third time since mid-summer, progress last week ground to a halt — and backslid a bit — against the number of outstanding Veterans Benefits Administration disability claims.

The average number of days claims were pending crept up by nearly 3 days, weekly data released on Monday showed, and the percentage waiting over 125 days ticked up a point to 59.3%.

The step backward follows two positive weeks in processing, which followed the first two weeks of backsliding since early summer. What had been steady progress against the backlog due to Congressional pressure had already been slowing in November — even after maintaining a positive clip during the October government shutdown — but a net gain of 2,332 backlogged claims older than 125 days two weeks ago was a reversal.

Despite a few hiccups since Thanksgiving, there has been substantial improvement in the past year, with about 23% fewer claims pending overall and more than a third fewer waiting over 125 days. The percentage taking over 124 days has been cut by 11 percentage points.

The U.S. Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee met earlier this month for an update on the Veterans Benefits Administration progress in reducing the backlog and heard officials pledge to continue chipping away at the backlog.

End of 2013 v. 2012

Weekly progress since mid-summer

Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.

View earlier weekly summaries.

A two-week backslide in processing veterans disability claims has ended, with the number of outstanding claims taking longer than 125 days to resolve shrinking by 4,300 last week. The average number of days pending slipped a bit to 171.6 from 172.9.

The previous two weeks were the first increases in the backlog since early summer and raised the hackles of veterans advocates. One advocacy group blamed the backsliding on elimination of mandatory overtime that had been authorized.

What had been steady progress against the backlog due to Congressional pressure had been slowing in November — even after maintaining a positive clip during the October government shutdown — but a net gain of 2,332 backlogged claims older than 125 days two weeks ago was a reversal.

The U.S. Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee met last week for an update on the Veterans Benefits Administration progress in reducing the backlog and heard officials pledge to continue chipping away at the backlog.

Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.

Below: Claims pending (left) and backlog (right) by era served, as of 12/14/13. (Note: Includes disability and pension claims, so total numbers are different than above). Pie charts are from the Veteran’s Benefits Administration.

View earlier weekly summaries.

Veterans disability claims that have taken longer than 125 days to process have increased for the second week in a row, growing by 3,345 claims compared to the week before.

The previous week was the first increase in the backlog since early summer and raised the hackles of veterans advocated. One advocacy group blamed the backsliding on elimination of mandatory overtime that had been authorized.

What had been steady progress against the backlog due to Congressional pressure had been slowing in recent weeks — even after maintaining a positive clip during the October government shutdown — but the net gain of 2,332 backlogged claims older than 125 days last week was a reversal.

The U.S. Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee is meeting this morning (Dec. 11) for an update on the Veterans Benefits Administration progress in reducing the backlog.

Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.

Below: Claims pending (left) and backlog (right) by era served, as of 12/2/13. (Note: Includes disability and pension claims, so total numbers are different than above). Pie charts are from the Veteran’s Benefits Administration.

View earlier weekly summaries.

The Veterans Administration backlog in disability claims ended a months-long decline last week as the number of claims pending for more than 125 days rose for the first time since July.

As you can see from the chart below, what had been steady progress against the backlog had been slowing in recent weeks — even after maintaining a positive clip during the October government shutdown — but the net gain of 2,332 backlogged claims older than 125 days last week was a reversal.

One veteran’s organization was not at all pleased. “This week’s report comes after two straight weeks of weak numbers from the VA. And after months of encouraging progress, it appears the VA’s progress is now stalling,” the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said in a release.

“These weeks of poor performance come after the VA suspended mandatory overtime and ended its surge processing for claims pending over one year. The drop in weekly progress following the end of these initiatives seriously calls into question whether the VA’s regular production can end the backlog by 2015.”

Below is our weekly snapshot of claims status and two graphics from the Veterans Benefits Administration’s weekly “Monday Morning Workload Reports” that track claims processing progress.

Below: Claims pending (left) and backlog (right) by era served, as of 12/2/13. (Note: Includes disability and pension claims, so total numbers are different than above). Pie charts are from the Veteran’s Benefits Administration.

View earlier weekly summaries.