Thousands of VA Disability Decisions Rubber-Stamped Without Review

CCK Law: Our Vital Role in Veterans Law

On September 29, 2025, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report finding that, from at least fiscal year 2022 through 2024, a senior veterans service representative (VSR) at the Philadelphia VA Regional Office authorized roughly 85,300 claims—about 19 times the national average—without conducting the required reviews.

While this may sound beneficial for veterans, in reality, this employee’s actions could have far-reaching consequences for veterans, their dependents, and VA as a whole. In this article, you will learn about the improper payments authorized at the Philadelphia VA and the impact they may have on veterans.

Key points of this article include:

• A senior VSR at Philadelphia VA was found to have authorized far more disability claims than should have been possible for an employee in their position. Investigations revealed that this senior VSR was possibly not even opening some of the claims files they were tasked with reviewing.
• These unduly authorized claims and payments now have to be re-reviewed by VA, potentially leading to veterans losing benefits or compensation should VA determine that the decisions those veterans received were improperly assigned.
• In situations like this, VA may ask veterans to repay the money they were erroneously given. Veterans have several methods to potentially avoid repayment, however, including challenging the validity of the debt or requesting a debt waiver.

What Caused These Improper Payments at Philadelphia VA?

From at least fiscal year 2022 through 2024, a senior veterans service representative at Philadelphia’s VA Regional Office authorized an extremely large number of disability claims, many more than was normal for a VA employee in this position. According to the OIG report, during this period, the senior VSR:

• Authorized about 85,300 claims, or about 19 times the national average for a senior VSR working for VA.
• Spent about 4.7 minutes reviewing each claim before authorization, compared to the 21-minute average for other senior VSRs.
• Singlehandedly contributed over 35 percent to the Philadelphia VA Regional Office’s claims completion goals for each year.

Typically, a senior VSR is tasked with performing a final review on VA disability claims processed by lower-level VSRs. During this final review, the senior VSR will read through the veteran’s claims file to confirm that the disability percentage rating, compensation rate, and decision letter that VA has assigned are all accurate for the particular claim the veteran is making. Once they give final approval, the claim is authorized, and the veteran will begin receiving disability compensation and other benefits.

This particular senior VSR at the Philadelphia office, however, failed to perform several of these duties, with the director of VA’s Northeast District even remarking that: “It is not physically possible to do that many authorizations and perform the real functions of the job.”

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) eventually concluded that it was possible this senior VSR did not even open some of the case-related documents they were tasked with reviewing.

How Could These Improper Payments Harm Veterans?

Though some veterans may be supportive of this senior VSR for authorizing so many claims, the reality is that this rubber-stamping has the potential to cause a lot of harm to veterans in the long run, including:

• Veterans who were underpaid potentially needing to file new claims to receive the compensation they deserve.
• Veterans losing benefits they have been receiving, should VA determine the initial decision was improper.
• VA declaring an overpayment and attempting to recover funds from veterans who received more than they were actually owed.

“Many claims processed by this staffer may have errors in grant or denial decisions, missing evidence evaluations, or incorrect effective dates or disability evaluations,” says Bradley Hennings, partner at CCK Law. “Some veterans may have been wrongfully denied benefits that they should have received. Others may have been underpaid because proper rating criteria were never applied.”

As VA reviews the thousands of claims this senior VSR authorized, it is possible they will end up retroactively changing some of the rating decisions that they deem were improperly assigned. This could lead to veterans being deprived of benefits they have been receiving for months or years, including:

• Disability compensation
• Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)
• Ancillary benefits like CHAMPVA or DEA
• Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU)
• And more

Situations like this can further erode any confidence that veterans or their dependents may have in the disability claims process, weakening the relationship between VA and the veterans whom they are meant to serve.

Looking to learn more about these improper payments at the Philadelphia VA? Watch CCK Law Partner Bradley Hennings explain the potential fallout for veterans:

Play

How Were These Improper Payments at the Philadelphia VA Discovered?

In July 2024, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) received a hotline allegation exposing the activities of this senior VSR at the Philadelphia VA Regional Office. This allegation prompted an investigation from OIG, which ran from November 2024 to July 2025.

OIG’s investigation discovered the truth of the situation and the extent of the senior VSR’s actions. Reviewing a small sample of some of the claims this senior VSR had authorized, OIG concluded that about 84 percent of these claims actually had substantial errors, including:

• Monetary errors that resulted in veterans receiving both overpayments and underpayments, leading to an estimated $2.2 million in improper payments being issued during the review period alone, and possibly much higher.
• Potential errors that could have affected veterans’ benefits but had not resulted in improper payments.
• Deficiency errors that could have impacted VBA’s data integrity.

Why Were These Improper Payments Allowed to Happen?

A combination of factors allowed this situation to play out as it did, including flaws in VA’s review process, as well as the senior VSR being defended by their superiors whenever questions were raised regarding the VSR’s high number of authorizations.

The Senior VSR Was Defended by Superiors

In the years leading up to OIG’s investigation, some higher-level VA officials and offices had made inquiries regarding the high volume of claims being authorized by this senior VSR at the Philadelphia office. However, the senior VSR’s managers initially supported the employee, claiming their function in the office was to handle “quick hit” authorizations, which had minimal contentions and therefore did not take long to review.

Eventually, one of the managers at the Philadelphia Veterans Service Center imposed a restriction on this particular senior VSR, limiting them to authorize no more than eight to 10 claims per hour. The senior VSR sometimes ignored this restriction, however, and even with it in place, was still authorizing claims at a rate far beyond the national average.

Flaws in VBA’s Individual Quality Review Process

To review the work of its VSRs, VBA conducts individual quality reviews through the use of quality review specialists located in its regional offices. The purpose of these reviews is to unearth potential errors in the claims process and ensure that individual VSRs within the office are making decisions that meet the standards of a VA professional.

However, it was discovered there was a flaw in this review process: Only three individual quality reviews were conducted per month for this particular senior VSR. This meant that less than 1 percent of this VSR’s authorizations were actually being reviewed, allowing their errors to go unnoticed and for them to appear to meet the quality standards of the Philadelphia office.

What Can Veterans Do if VA Declares Overpayment?

If VA declares overpayment and requests that veterans pay back the money that was mistakenly issued to them, veterans have several options to handle the situation, including challenging the debt’s validity, requesting a waiver for the debt, or paying it by a payment plan.

Challenge the Debt’s Validity

A veteran can challenge a VA debt by asking VA to specifically show how the alleged overpayment was created. If these improper payments at Philadelphia VA were ultimately VA’s fault and responsibility, it is possible that veterans may be able to get these debts declared invalid.

To dispute a VA debt, veterans generally need to provide a written statement to VA arguing why they think the debt is incorrect. Veterans can submit these statements in two ways:

• Online via VA’s webpage on debt disputes; or
• Mailing a written statement to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111

To avoid any collection actions from VA, it is recommended that veterans submit their disputes within 30 days of receiving word of their debt.

Request a Waiver of Debt

It is also possible to get a VA debt waived by requesting a debt waiver under 38 CFR § 1.963 and § 1.965.

Under these regulations, a veteran may be able to argue that they are not at fault for the overpayments authorized by Philadelphia VA, and that repayments of this debt would cause the veteran financial hardship. This could result in VA accepting a lower amount of money to repay the debt or issuing a waiver and exempting the veteran from paying it back entirely.

To request a waiver, veterans will need to submit a Financial Status Report (VA Form 5655). They can submit this form in two ways:

• Online through VA’s webpage on requesting debt help; or
• Mailing the completed form to S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111

“This is a really powerful tool,” says Bradley Hennings. “If you can say, ‘This is VA’s fault, not my fault, and this is going to cause me a hardship,’ you may be able to get VA to waive that debt.”

Pay via Payment Plan

If VA declares that the veteran’s debt is valid, then the veteran might still be able to request paying it back via a payment plan. This is especially the case if the debt is unaffordable to pay back in a lump sum but is possible to repay over time in smaller installments.

If a veteran can pay back this debt in under five years, then they can simply contact VA through one of the following options to request a payment plan:

• Using AskVA to inquire about a payment plan, or
• Calling VA at 800-827-0648 (TTY: 711), or
• Sending a request via mail to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111.

If a veteran will take more than five years to repay their debt, VA will first require they submit a Financial Status Report (VA Form 5655). This form can be submitted:

• Online through VA’s webpage on requesting debt help; or
• By mailing the completed form to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111

Was Your Disability Claim Denied by VA? Contact CCK Law

If your disability claim was denied by VA, the VA-accredited representatives at Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick may be able to help. Call CCK Law at 800-544-9144 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my VA debt waived?

If a veteran wants to request a waiver for their VA debt, they must first submit a Financial Status Report (VA Form 5655) to VA. They can submit this form in two ways:

• Online through VA’s webpage on requesting debt help; or
• Mailing the completed form to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111

Once VA receives the form, they will determine whether they will accept a lower amount of money to repay the debt (called a “compromise offer”), or whether they will waive the debt completely.

Veterans should submit the request within 180 days from the notice of indebtedness under current 38 CFR § 1.963(b). VA is updating the CFR to 1 year to comply with section 254 of the Cleland-Dole Act (per VA Financial Policy Chapter 13).

How do I dispute a VA debt?

To dispute a VA debt, veterans will have to submit a written statement to VA explaining why they think the debt may be invalid. The veteran can submit this statement through either of the following two pathways:

• Online via VA’s webpage on debt disputes; or
• Mailing a written statement to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111

Per VA.gov, debtors should respond within the time limit listed in the first debt letter (often, but not categorically always, 30 days under 38 CFR § 1.911/1.912a).

Who do I call if my VA payment is wrong?

If your VA disability check contains an error or errors, you can reach out to VA through one of the following methods to inform them and find a solution:

• Call the VA Benefits Hotline at 1-800-827-1000 (TTY: 711), or
• Reach out to your closest VA Regional Office, or
• Use the AskVA tool to inform a VA employee.