Veteran Appeals and COVID-19

As a result of the pandemic, the Veterans Benefits Administration, closed many of its Regional Offices (ROs) impacting VBA’s ability to conduct in person appeals. As a result of the necessity created by this situation, the VA’s Hearings Management Branch has been conducting briefings to ensure veterans service officers, claims agents, attorneys, and veteran service representatives are up to date on the solutions the VBA is implementing.

VBA’s actions were inspired by the Veterans Health Administration and their work in implementing increased tele health and tele medicine capabilities. This inspiration led to the Hearing Management Branch developing a multidimensional plan to alleviate the backlog in appeals the pandemic was creating and combining the concept with virtual hearings. The plan consists of four parts with the intended result to redistribute workload and ensure that no virtual hearing slot will be under-utilized.

In this plan, the first step is for the VBA to contact and identify all the veterans who may no longer require an appeal so that an accurate backlog number can be used to determine the workload. Second, a black-out calendar is developed for organizations that cannot participate in a hearing on a particular day. An example of this is NDVS closed for Nevada Day. If that day is blacked out, the Hearing Management Branch would go to the next organization (DAV, PVA, VFW, etc.) open on that day. Third, the Hearing Management Branch is cross leveling the appeals from high demand localities to low demand ROs. In practice, this would mean an individual in Houston, which has the second largest backlog in the country, may have a virtual hearing with a hearing officer in a location like Guam. Lastly, as the ROs begin to re-open, the Hearing Management Branch is planning to expand it’s capacity to the new locations immediately.  

To go along with this plan, the virtual hearing format will allow for veterans and their representatives to participate in the hearing via their smartphone, computer, or tablet. The country has also been divided into various region in order to allow for the eight partially opened ROs to begin addressing the 75,000 appeals currently on the books. While action is taking place, the large backlog is going to cause an extensive lead time and we ask all veterans who are waiting for a hearing to be patient and work closely with your VSO.  

If you, or any veteran you know, would like to opt for a virtual hearing please contact your Veteran Service Officer via email or call (702) 830-2000 and they will inform the Hearing Management Branch to place you on the docket for a virtual hearing.