Shinseki pledges top-down review, change at VA

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Shinseki pledges top-down review, change at VA
By Hope Yen - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 4, 2009 13:56:22 EST

WASHINGTON — Eric K. Shinseki, the new Veterans Affairs secretary, said Wednesday he is trying to reduce the six-month delays in paying veterans’ disability claims, and he wants to move quickly toward an all-electronic claims system that could speed up the process.

In his first appearance before Congress since becoming secretary, Shinseki said the VA is looking at a major switch that would phase out paper processing, possibly by 2012. In the meantime, the VA will hire 1,100 more staff this year to deal with the backlog of cases, which typically involve paper stacks “going halfway to the ceiling,” he said.

“This is a brute-force solution,” Shinseki told the House Veterans Affairs Committee, adding that a technological format is needed “to ensure timely, accurate consistent decision-making on behalf of our veterans. This is part of what our backlog is about. That will take investment, of course,” he said.

In his testimony, Shinseki also said he was launching a topdown review of his embattled department and reiterated his promise to submit a “credible and adequate 2010 budget request” that will be cost-effective while fully sensitive to veterans in need.

“If it’s going to be solved any faster, it’s going to take leadership,” he said of the challenge ahead, promising a “change of culture” at the government’s second largest agency.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_shinseki_va_020409/#2e