A Department of Veterans Affairs office in Philadelphia manipulated the dates for old benefits claims to make them appear new, according to an independent watchdog, raising questions about whether the agency’s record-keeping scandal extends beyond VA medical centers.

VA Assistant Inspector General Linda Halliday outlined the problem in advanced testimony for a Monday hearing with the House Veterans Affairs Committee, which is scheduled to examine the agency’s handling of benefits claims.



(Charles Dharapak/AP – Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters.)

The issue stemmed from a May 2013 VA memo that authorized processors to mark overlooked files with the dates they were discovered instead of the dates they were submitted. The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported the issue in an article on Monday.

The guidance instructed processors who use the so-called “discovered date” to provide an explanation for the action, in addition to obtaining approval from a top administrator and notifying a higher office. In each of the 30 cases in question, employees did not provide explanations, Halliday said.

The VA said Monday that “confusion and misapplication” of the memo caused the problem. The agency suspended its policy nationwide after the inspector general’s office substantiated problems with its use.

The VA said the guidance was intended to allow employees to “track the older, undecided claim based on the date it was identified while protecting the original date the claim was filed for the purpose of determining eligibility to benefits.”

But Halliday said the memo “provided significant opportunities for [VA regional offices] to manipulate and input incorrect dates of claims in the electronic record.” She added that improper use of the guidance “compromises data integrity related to timeliness of claims processing and in some cases can have a financial impact on veterans.”

During a visit to the Philadelphia office in June, inspectors found 30 instances of claims processors improperly applying the “discovered date.” The inspector general’s office is continuing its investigation of the matter, according to Halliday.

The 2013 memo went to the VA’s regional benefits centers roughly two months after the agency outlined plans to eliminate a longstanding backlog of disability claims that grew rapidly during President Obama’s first term — about 611,000 cases were stuck in the system for more than 125 days in March 2013. The inventory skyrocketed in large part due to an influx of claims from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and because of new rules for Agent Orange victims.

The department has reduced its inventory of longstanding claims by 56 percent since the numbers reached a high in March 2013, according to the latest VA data, released Monday morning. Lawmakers and veterans groups are likely to question those figures in light of the inspector general’s findings.

The inspector general’s testimony highlighted other issues within the VA’s benefits network, including a Baltimore office that inappropriately stored thousands of documents containing sensitive veteran information and underreporting of improper payments throughout the system.

The VA said Monday that it has taken several steps to address problems with the “discovered date” method. In addition to eliminating the policy, the measures include reviewing data for additional misuse at other regional offices, referring newly discovered issues to the inspector general’s office and correcting claims that were affected by “misinterpretation” of the May 2013 guidance. Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson has also promised to hold accountable any employees who intentionally misused the policy.

Monday’s hearing is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.