The VA has a long road ahead as they catch up with backlogged cases

Over 70,000 veterans disability claims are backlogged in VA processing centers. Setting a goal to have backlogged cases down to 0 at the end of 2015, the VA finds themselves with a large number of cases that are still open past the 4 month cut off period. This number does not include cases in the appeals process that could take years to finalize. This goal was announce in 2009 by President Barack Obama. In hopes to achieve their goal in reducing backlogged cases, the department launched a national work queue that allows employees across the country to help regional offices electronically to process the caseloads quickly. However even with these new changes, department officials feel that another record breaking year for case filings despite the processing improvements. Full article.