The Veterans Benefits Administration ( Vba )

More, the VA has since developed an array of treatment initiatives and programs that focus on preventative care.

One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans ' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been tasked with providing support and benefits to Veterans after they have completed their service. However, many Veterans are reporting difficulty accessing care due to systematic barriers within the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (Oliver, 2007). Complex eligibility requirements, long wait lists and lack of providers are a few of the issues Veterans are faced with when trying to access health and mental health care. Additionally, studies indicate that veterans, predominantly those from the recent wars in Iran and Iraq, have disproportionately high amounts of mental illness (Shim & Rust, 2013). These same veterans are experiencing difficulty accessing mental health care due to issues around a backlog of healthcare eligibility applications and a shortage of mental health providers through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which operates the Nation’s largest, integrated health care delivery system (APA, 2014). In 2014, at the request of the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merit of the allegations of mismanagement at the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) and the Health Eligibility Center (HEC).

In the past few years there has been increasing discussion about how to provide adequate care for the increasing number of veterasn who are eligible for care through the Veterans’ healthcare administration (VHA). There are concerns is that the VHA is not providing the level of access, efficiency, and quality of care that veterans expect. Lee & Begley, (2016) suggest access to care for the veteran population may be resulting in poor health outcomes. In response to these concerns, the Veterans ' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act (VACAA) of 2014, also known as the Veterans Choice Act, was created to improve Veterans’ healthcare. The VACAA proposed to do this by expanding the number of options veterans have for receiving healthcare, by providing access for healthcare at non-VA care centers as well as providing for an increase in staffing at VA facilities (U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016).

Current funding for veteran healthcare care is low and insufficient because of the large number of veterans, who are being discharged from the military as the country transitions to a democratic President. According to Dr. Rachel Nardin in her article about veteran healthcare, “Soldiers get excellent acute care when injured on active duty, but as revelations of poor conditions for soldiers receiving ongoing outpatient care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center highlighted, service members often have trouble getting the care they need once active duty ends” (Nardin 1)

In 1917, as the United States entered World War I, Congress established a system that addressed Veterans benefits which included programs for disability compensation, insurance for service members and Veterans as well as rehabilitative treatments for those that were disabled (www.va.gov). Three years later, 3 separate federal agencies: the Veterans Bureau, Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers were charged with administering these benefits and services (www.va.gov). Then, in 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed an Executive Order which consolidated these agencies to a federal administration level and created the Veterans Administration (www.va.gov). Almost seventy years later, in 1989, the Veterans Administration was then renamed the Department of Veterans Affairs (www.va.gov). The purpose for establishing the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) has always been, since inception, and remains to this day, to provide a comprehensive system of assistance for Veterans (www.va.gov). As noble a purpose as the VA was intended, the VA could not escape the bureaucratic dysfunction that has rocked the very core of the military community, the nation and the Western allies with outrage and an immediate call for remedy.

When I returned from Iraq, I worked as a Veteran Representative for the County Veteran Service Office in Martinez. There, I managed over 1,500 veterans’ medical records and guided them to the right resources for their claims, including burial proceedings, Agent Orange related illness, and other disability and compensation-related issues. I’ve experienced the battle vets fight both overseas and at home; hence, another reason for my pursuit of nonviolent conflict resolution. During this time, I became frustrated by the limitations of help available to veterans in need. I saw that without a change in policy, there will always be a limit to change you can effect.

The Veterans Affairs Department (VA) oversees a disability program that seeks to compensate US veterans for injuries or medical conditions aggravated or incurred during military duty. The disability program makes payment to the veterans through the Veterans Benefits Administration, (VBA). According to CBO, VA disability compensation accounted for 70% of VBA’s total mandatory spending in 2013, amounting to $54 billion. This compensation was distributed to about 3.5 million of the nation’s 22 million veterans

According to a report by CNN in 2016, 307,000 veterans may have died waiting for healthcare from the VA (Devine). Considering that this might not be an outstanding number, it is still a major issue, and presents one of the more prevalent concerns with the VA today. Wait times are one of the most common complaints with the organization, and according to The New American, “The VA has been caught having large-scale problems with unsanitary conditions (spreading diseases), poor care, long waits, corruption (including bribes and kickbacks), enormous waste, inefficiency, falsifying wait lists, denial of services, unnecessary surgeries, and more” (Williamsen). Additionally, one VA audit found that 10% of veterans attempting to obtain medical care at a VA or VHA institution were forced to wait at least 30 days to get an appointment (“The US Veteran Health Care System Is Overwhelmed and Failing”). With a larger budget, the VHA could hire more medical employees to care for their numerous patients, and build more facilities across the country, giving them more space and increasing their capability to aid all veterans who require their services.

The assignment being completed within this report asks the author of said report to answer to a few analysis and review questions pertaining to the Veteran Affairs Administration in the United States, especially as it pertains to their claims processing dilemmas and issues. The author, in order, is asked to analyze the organizational design of the Veterans Administration, analyze the agency's global and international linkages, analyze their human resource goals and frameworks, analyze their training programs and offer two actions the agency can undertake to attract and maintain a qualified workforce. The author is asked to provide five relevant and credible outside sources outside of the sources that support this assignment's content.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is a government run program to assist the U.S. Veterans who are disabled soldiers. It began when the Pilgrims passed a law that required disabled soldiers to receive benefits from the colony, as early as 1636 (U.S. Dept. of VA, 2014). By 1776, the Continental Congress provided pensions to disabled soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Later, the Veterans assistance program expanded to include benefits and pensions not only for Veterans, but also for their widows and dependents. Finally, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was established in 1865, to form the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, an institution created specifically for the honorably discharged volunteer soldiers, of which the first national home opened in 1866 located in Augusta, Maine (U.S. Dept. of VA, 2014). Today, VHA has expanded the VA health care system, which comprises 150 hospitals, 820 Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC), 300 Vet Centers, 131 National Cemeteries, 56 Veterans Benefits Administration Regional Offices (NCVAS, 2014). The VA health care system also includes 126 nursing home care units and 35 domiciliaries (U.S Dept. of VA, 2014). Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mission statement is, “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan’ by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans” (U.S. Dept. of VA,

By forming these strong interpersonal relationships and working with the VSO’s I was frequently able to obtain information, support, or concurrence that would allow me to resolve a Veteran’s claim. After moving into various management positions within the Veterans Service Center (VSC) I continued to work towards building and maintaining effective and productive relationships with these and other organizations in order to further the goals and interests of the VSC. I accomplished this by participating in outreach events, focusing on improving relations with the RO’s VHA partners, and by focusing on providing timely responses to requests for information from partners to include, VHA, VSO’s and exam

On September 11, the Nebraska Union will open up the new Military and Veteran Success center.

This paper endeavors to take an in-depth look at the VA and access and analyze some of its programs and policies to judge their effectiveness. With any large organization, there will be issues maintaining the set principles. As each agency strives to operate day to day under the mission established by the federal government and the Pentagon they soon realize that being a civilian working in the VA means service to country as the y seek to administer care to our Vets.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is a government run system that provides benefits to all veterans of the United States military. Along with assisting veterans, it is also a benefit program for the families of the veterans. Many sections of the department are very obvious to those not involved, however there is much more to it than we see. There are three main sub sections of the program. These include the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Association (VBA), and the National Cemetery Association (NCA). All this is possible due to the increase in funding over the past decade. The department has grown tremendously since its very beginning in 1636 to what it is today.