VA Ousts Managers for Claims Deception

Week of December 01, 2008

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reassigned the director of its New York regional office after finding that employees misdated hundreds of claims to make it appear they were being processed on time. VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele said last week that the director and five other top managers were ousted after investigators discovered a pattern of deception in the handling of claims at the regional headquarters in Manhattan. The shake-up at the New York regional office, which serves 800,000 vets living in eastern New York State, came as veterans organizations and members of Congress have criticized the federal agency for mishandling, losing or destroying the benefits claims of veterans. Read the full article on Miltary.com.