{"id":33781,"date":"2026-05-10T16:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T16:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/33781\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T16:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T16:23:13","slug":"hiring-overtime-and-ai-va-is-processing-veterans-disability-claims-faster-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/33781\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiring, overtime, and AI: VA is Processing veterans\u2019 disability claims faster than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article<\/a> first appeared in The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not too many Vietnam veterans are using ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may be a little more technical than other 80-year-olds,\u201d said Chip, a Marine Corps Vietnam vet and former software developer who used artificial intelligence last year for help filing a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n

Chip plugged his symptoms for Agent Orange-related cancer and PTSD into the AI chatbot and asked it to write a narrative for his supplemental disability claim. He proofread it multiple times, then submitted it to VA. A month and a half later, the agency responded with a 100% rating, increasing his monthly disability check by $2,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"Chip was a radio relay operator and repairman in the Marine Corps (Photo courtesy of Chip)<\/p>\n

While he was thankful for the high-tech support, Chip \u2014 who asked to be identified by his nickname to protect his medical privacy \u2014 admits he felt a bit conflicted when he learned who else is using AI: VA has been developing AI systems to help claims processors sift through the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pages of evidence that veterans submit as part of their disability claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m uneasy with AI, but I think it\u2019s here to stay,\u201d said Chip. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like nuclear weapons. Once you invent them, there\u2019s no uninventing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI is one of several ways VA has been putting a significant dent in the agency\u2019s years-long disability claims backlog. The result is speeding up the response to veterans from an average of about five months at the beginning of 2025 to under three months now, and\u2014like Chip\u2019s\u2014sometimes faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working toward 30 to 40 days for every claim,\u201d VA Secretary Doug Collins said during an interview with Military.com<\/a> on April 30. \u201cThat\u2019s previously unheard of.\u201d<\/p>\n

VA has cut the claims backlog \u2014 the number of claims pending for more than 125 days\u2014by more than 70% since the beginning of last year, according to the agency. Currently, the agency\u2019s backlogged claims are below 76,000 \u2014 the lowest since 2020. Insiders say the agency has accomplished this feat through investing millions into automation technology, aggressive hiring during previous administrations, and the liberal use of overtime. But to some, faster doesn\u2019t always mean better.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do something faster. You can do it good,\u201d said Jason Anderson, a former VA claims rater who left the agency at the end of May last year. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

A huge investment in automation<\/p>\n

VA has poured millions of dollars into multiple AI programs for claims processing. One of the most impactful is called Automated Decision Support, which is part of a $485 million contract with IBM. The system sorts through key pieces of evidence in a veteran\u2019s file, along with federal records from DOD and VA, and compiles a summary sheet for the claims processor who decides a veteran\u2019s disability rating.<\/p>\n

\"\"Before going back to school, Chip had never used a computer. Recently, he used ChatGPT to file his disability claim with VA. (Photo courtesy of Chip)<\/p>\n

Automated Decision Support is one of the main ways the agency is speeding up claims processing time, said Paul Shute, the former assistant deputy under secretary at VA and previously the director of benefits automation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 86% of the time that a claim was pending was gathering all that information and evidence, synthesizing and understanding that information, and then providing the veteran a decision,\u201d Shute said. Actually making the decision is one of the quickest parts of the claim process.<\/p>\n

Shute said it\u2019s important to note that this program does not make the final decision on the rating a veteran receives. \u201cThere\u2019s no technology in the world today that can replicate the intricacies of making a disability decision for veterans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Automated Decision Support was first rolled out for presumptive conditions\u2014health issues VA assumes were caused by military service \u2014 linked to the PACT Act, such as cancers caused by toxic exposures. But at this point, Shute said, it has been deployed for more than 170 VA diagnostic codes.<\/p>\n

While the system sounds like a game changer, it had flaws at first. A 2023 report<\/a> from the VA Office of Inspector General found that Automated Decision Support \u201cfailed to recognize duplicate evidence, identified false evidence, and missed relevant information,\u201d ultimately leading to inaccurate decisions on veterans\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n

In response to the inspector general\u2019s findings, \u201cVA implemented multiple enhancements to the system to ensure appropriate outcomes,\u201d Quinn Slaven, VA press secretary, told The War Horse, and the watchdog signed off on VA\u2019s progress<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n

But not everyone thinks the AI works perfectly. Derek Debus, an attorney who litigates veterans\u2019 disability cases, said that after filing claims for clients, his staff has to manually check and make sure all the evidence is being looked at, to be sure \u201cit wasn\u2019t overlooked or missed by the AI.\u201d One example is clients being sent letters stating they filled out the wrong forms, when that isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n

While working as a claims rater, Anderson said he used Automated Decision Support and found it was \u201creally hit or miss.\u201d He said that while it definitely sped up the number of claims he could process, he often had to find what it missed or fix an error. \u201cI don\u2019t know that it\u2019s helped the quality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite still needing to work out the kinks, VA is continuing to invest in artificial intelligence. At a Congressional hearing in April, Michigan Republican Rep. Jack Bergman mentioned that VA has been piloting an AI program since August 2025 that uses veterans\u2019 medical records to fill out disability benefit questionnaires, reducing the need for in-person doctor visits. VA lists a similar program as still in the predeployment phase on its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jason Anderson, an Army veteran, said one of the reasons he enjoyed working at VA was the number of other veterans who also work there. (Photo courtesy of Jason Anderson)<\/p>\n

In December 2025, the agency released an inventory of all its AI programs, including those still in the predeployment phase. Among them is a program called Smart Ratings Recommendation, which would provide not just a summary of evidence like the current program, but a proposed rating for claims processors to manually review and approve.<\/p>\n

This would bring VA more in line with the private health care insurance industry, which is already being criticized for using AI to approve or deny prior authorizations of medical procedures and medications. When The War Horse asked about this program specifically, Kasperowicz said, \u201cThis initiative has been paused indefinitely and there is no future release date.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accuracy rate still below target<\/p>\n

Quality control isn\u2019t a new issue for claims processors. Every week, VA publishes a report with exhaustive data on the current claims in its inventory. In the most recent report, the three-month accuracy rate for whether raters determined individual medical issues correctly was about 94% \u2014 four points below the agency\u2019s target of 98%. The accuracy rate for whether an entire claims packet was processed correctly was lower, at 84%.<\/p>\n

Though the accuracy rate is at its highest point in two years, it has been below target for more than a decade, and some veterans\u2019 advocates say the agency\u2019s current push to process claims quickly contributes to it.<\/p>\n

This worry prompted Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, to send a letter<\/a> to Secretary Collins in early March demanding answers. He said that while he is glad the claims backlog is decreasing, the accuracy rate \u201cappears to be trending down.\u201d Cohen didn\u2019t respond to a request for an interview about his concerns.<\/p>\n

Debus has seen the same. \u201cWhat we\u2019re finding a lot is that we\u2019re getting decisions faster, but a lot of these decisions have anywhere from minor technical errors to pretty major issues,\u201d he said. \u201cSo a lot of the feeling that the vet advocate community has right now is that they\u2019re just rushing decisions out the door, quality be damned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kasperowicz was quick to point out that the accuracy rate has been below target for years. \u201cThe three-month accuracy rate has increased under President Trump, after it fell precipitously at the end of the Biden administration to 90%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

VA employs a quality review process in which a specialist reviews three to five randomly selected claims from each rater each month. These specialists also have their reviews randomly audited by a peer.<\/p>\n

But Debus said this doesn\u2019t tell the full story. \u201cIt\u2019s like the police officers investigating themselves,\u201d he said. He said a better way to judge how many mistakes are being made is to look at how many appeals are granted or returned to claims processors for another look.<\/p>\n

The VA data shows a dip in quality since the spring of 2022, when the accuracy rate was consistently closer to 97%. Some say this drop in quality was not due to speed but because the agency hired 10,000 new employees around this time to process claims for the PACT Act, and these new employees needed time to be properly trained.<\/p>\n

Ryan Gallucci, executive director of the Washington office of Veterans of Foreign Wars, says issues with the error rate aren\u2019t anything new. \u201cSince the PACT Act, and possibly even a little bit before, you started to see issues with accuracy start to creep up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But to Debus, each error is a problem. \u201cThe majority of veterans, what I find is that initially they\u2019re reluctant to apply for VA benefits,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re embarrassed or ashamed or don\u2019t feel like they deserve it.\u201d So if they get an error that wrongly denies them benefits, he said, \u201cIt feels like a kick in the groin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hiring and mandatory overtime<\/p>\n

In 2022, John Cordle, a Navy surface nuclear officer veteran, filed a disability claim for sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome after years of working on ships and standing brutal watch schedules.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, my sleep was demolished by my career,\u201d Cordle said.<\/p>\n

Even though he had conducted years of research on how sleep disruption can cause health issues in sailors, Cordle didn\u2019t realize how poor sleep had impacted him until he landed in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat caused by his sleep apnea.<\/p>\n

\"\"Early in his career, Cordle often had to stand \u201cfive and dime\u201d watch schedules, which were five hours on, ten hours off. (Photo courtesy of John Cordle)<\/p>\n

The same year Cordle filed his claim, the claims backlog rose to more than 175,000, as the PACT Act made millions more veterans eligible for service connection, while the COVID-19 pandemic stalled necessary medical exams and put claims on hold. By 2024, the backlog had ballooned to more than 400,000.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Curda, director of education, workforce, and income security issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said the Veterans Benefit Administration, the part of VA that processes benefits, has been on her office\u2019s \u201chigh risk\u201d list for decades due to trouble managing its workload. \u201cThe basic issue is that they have historically had ups and downs with backlogs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

To tackle the backlog, VBA first went on a hiring spree, adding more than 10,000 claims processors between 2021 and 2024. Anderson, the former VA claims rater, said his regional office in Boise, Idaho, expanded significantly while he was there. In 2019, he said, there were around 40 to 50 employees. \u201cAnd then when I left, there were like 170 people.\u201d<\/p>\n

When President Trump began his second term in 2025, though, hiring at VA and across the federal government came to a screeching halt. Claims processors weren\u2019t eligible for the federal government\u2019s deferred resignation program, but new positions weren\u2019t open either. So the agency turned to mandatory overtime to speed up claims processing.<\/p>\n

Mandatory overtime wasn\u2019t a new phenomenon, Anderson said. In fact, it has been happening on and off for more than a decade. But the new administration increased the overtime requirements from 20 to 25 overtime hours each month, which excited some who wanted extra pay, but frustrated others. Kasperowicz confirmed that in 2025 mandatory overtime began in May, stopped in October during the government shutdown, and began again in December.<\/p>\n

Anderson often found himself waking early on weekends to work a few hours to complete his required overtime so he wouldn\u2019t miss too much time with his kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to do like three hours Saturday morning and three hours Sunday morning,\u201d he said. But it was demoralizing to work extra hours while getting messaging from the government that federal workers should resign \u2014 even though claims processors weren\u2019t eligible. He said it was like being told, \u201cnot only are you useless, but we need you to work more too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Cordle had three denials on his claim before it was approved by the Board of Veterans\u2019 Appeals. (Photo courtesy of John Cordle)<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t only claims processors who were working longer hours. Lawyers at the Board of Veterans\u2019 Appeals had their production quotas increased last year too, according to Kate Kovarovic, a lawyer who left the agency in January. The higher production requirement worried her, she said, and was one of the reasons that she left the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have attorneys who are exhausted, and they are going to be reviewing claims files more quickly and with less of an eye towards what the evidence actually says, and they\u2019re going to miss things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kasperowicz confirmed that some higher-level attorneys at the Board of Veterans\u2019 Appeals have been given higher quotas, with top attorneys now expected to draft an average of four decisions a week, up from three previously. \u201cThis change reflects the higher capabilities of the board\u2019s most experienced decision-drafting attorneys,\u201d he said, noting that this year, the board is deciding cases faster than it has since the process was modernized in 2019.<\/p>\n

Kovarovic said that while this may not sound like a big change, each case can have hundreds, even thousands of pieces of evidence for attorneys to review, which can take days or weeks to do correctly. In her opinion, when it comes to the attorneys at the Board of Appeals, the quotas \u201cplace the integrity of their work at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curda from the GAO said that historically, as the claims backlog decreases, appeals tend to increase. \u201cThe more quickly you process claims, the more likely they are to deny or to make a mistake, which then gets appealed,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit of a Whac-a-Mole.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Margarita Devlin, the principal deputy under secretary for benefits at VA, insisted at a recent Congressional hearing that while the total number of appeals has increased, the rate has remained steady at around 11%.<\/p>\n

Cordle\u2019s case was reviewed by the Board of Veterans\u2019 Appeals late last year. He said that while the claim itself took years to work through the system, the appeals process moved fairly quickly, and when it got to the board, the judgment took only about a month or two.<\/p>\n

And for him, the outcome was what he wanted: an approval, and an increase from 40% to 80% disability, increasing his monthly benefit by $1,400.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty psyched about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The War Horse is an award-winning nonprofit newsroom and the most trusted source for bulletproof reporting on the human impact of military service.<\/p>\n

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