Veterans affairs: Tighter records controls urged
By CHUCK CRUMBO - ccrumbo@thestate.com
tool goes here After reports surfaced that 95 documents were erroneously dumped into a shredder bin at the Department of Veteran Affairs’ Columbia office, critics charge the agency needs to fix the way it handles and tracks records.
“Files tend to get lost or tend to grow feet and walk out the door,” said Larry Scott, publisher of the Web site vawatchdog.org.
VA employees keep documents in their desks, briefcases, filing cabinets and other places, Scott claimed.
For the record
Military veterans dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs benefits offices need to guard against their records being lost or destroyed. Tips from veterans advocates:
• Keep a complete copy of your military medical records.
• Update VA files once a year and make copies.
• Never send the original paper work. Send copies.
• Call (800) 827-1000 to request an appointment to view your VA claims folder, also know as the C-file, at the regional office.
• Make sure all the records in the file are yours.
• Make sure all correspondence with the VA is in the C-file.
• Correct mistakes, then request a hard copy of your C-file.
The agency doesn’t have strict enough rules and procedures for tracking who handles veterans’ files and records, such as when the records are received, filed, mailed and processed, he added.
A VA spokeswoman said the agency is writing a new policy on how to handle and process records before they are destroyed.
Overall, 41 of the Department of Veterans Affairs 57 regional offices reported finding 500 documents improperly slated for destruction during an Oct. 3 audit.
The documents ranged from new claims for benefits to death certificates.
The shredder incident could have widespread impact in South Carolina, home of more than 413,000 former members of the military services.
One of those veterans wondered just how many records have been wrongly destroyed before the shredding incident came to light.
“How long has this been going on, and how many veterans and their families have been deprived of benefits they have earned?” said Army veteran Mike Bailey of Springdale.
The House Veterans Affairs Committee, which includes Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., plans to summon VA leaders to Capitol Hill in mid-November to explain the shredder incidents, an aide said. Representatives of veterans’ service organizations also are expected to join in the discussion.
“I look forward to working with the VA and my fellow committee members on not only getting to the bottom of this incident, but making changes that ensure our veterans see their claims processed in a timely and secure manner,” Brown said.
According to the VA, supervisors at the Columbia office found the documents erroneously slated for shredding.
“Their suspicions are that there was an employee in that facility who was improperly putting documents in that shredder intentionally,” said Alison Aikele, VA spokeswoman.
The employee, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave while the situation is being investigated, Aikele added.
Documents are “shredded all the time because they contain so much personal information,” Aikele said. But before a document is destroyed, copies should be made and stored.
“If we just threw it in the garbage, it would be a serious security threat,” Aikele said.
“In this particular incident, there were things that should not have been in the shredder because they needed to be taken action on.”
Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.
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The part in bold is a good source for veterans quotes in my personal opinion ME rofl
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Veterans affairs: Tighter records controls urged
