Inspection of VA Regional Office Anchorage, AK

The Benefits Inspection Division conducts onsite inspections at VA Regional Offices (VAROs) to review disability compensation claims processing and Veterans Service Center (VSC) operations. The Anchorage VARO management team faces challenges in providing benefits and services to veterans. VARO senior management acknowledged its workload was not under adequate control. Challenges include addressing oversight of operational activities, improving insufficient network capacity to support business processes, and providing training to staff. In addition, we found that an internal claims brokering process was in use. Management indicated it was difficult to manage and monitor the timely completion of brokered work to other VAROs. Further, we found the VARO did not meet the requirements for 13 of 14 operational areas reviewed. The VARO management team needs to provide additional management oversight and training of personnel responsible for processing claims identified as Haas, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), diabetes, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Management also needs to improve controls over the following areas: Tracking veterans’ claims in Control of Veterans Records System (COVERS), establishing correct dates of claims, correcting errors identified by VBA’s Systematic Technical Accuracy Review (STAR), completing Systematic Analysis of Operations (SAOs) accurately and timely, safeguarding VARO date stamps and veterans’ personally identifiable information (PII), and handling veterans’ claims-related mail and responding to congressional and other electronic inquiries. We recommended that the VARO improve oversight of the quality assurance process for the operational areas found lacking. We also recommended the VARO develop and implement a mail routing guide to ensure mail is properly controlled and processed, research the causes and solutions for network capacity issues, and report internal brokering to VBA leadership. The Director of the Anchorage VARO concurred with all recommendations. The management team’s planned actions are responsive and we will follow-up as required on all actions.