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
| CLAIMS PENDING | PENDING OVER 125 DAYS | % OVER 125 DAYS | |
| End of 2013 | 636,029 | 377,409 | 59.30% |
| End of 2012 | 823,140 | 574,838 | 69.80% |
| Change | -187,111 | -197,429 | -10.50% |
| Pct. Change | -23% | -34% |
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.
| CLAIMS PENDING | OVER 125 DAYS | % OVER 125 DAYS | AVG. DAYS PENDING | |
| This week | 636,029 | 377,409 | 59.30% | 173.8 |
| Last week | 635,983 | 371,045 | 58.30% | 171.2 |
| Change | 46 | 6,364 | 1.00% | 2.6 |
| Year ago | 823,140 | 574,838 | 69.80% | N/A |