In July 2022, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report finding that Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) staff prematurely denied service connected compensation to veterans with conditions that could be associated with burn pit exposure. The OIG made seven recommendations, and VBA took corrective action on five, which the OIG closed. The two remaining recommendations were to review two datasets the OIG believed contained prematurely denied claims of veterans seeking service connection for burn pit-related conditions, correct any errors, and provide certification of completion. In May and August 2024, VBA requested closure of both open recommendations, asserting it had taken corrective actions as needed on all the claims. However, further review by the OIG of the claim population, as detailed in this management advisory memorandum, determined VBA did not take required corrective actions on at least an estimated 25 percent of veterans’ denied claims related to burn pit exposure.
Given the considerable errors identified in this second review of claims, the OIG lacks assurance that VBA has taken sufficient corrective action to address the original findings and remains concerned that, after nearly three years, veterans affected by these errors could still be missing service-connected compensation benefits to which they are entitled. Accordingly, the OIG did not concur with VBA’s requests to close recommendations 2 and 3 from the July 2022 report. These recommendations will remain open, and the OIG will continue to request quarterly updates from VBA on the progress it has made to appropriately remediate all errors and ensure corrective actions are taken for veterans’ denied claims related to burn pit exposure from the population identified by the OIG. In response to this memorandum, VBA will establish a workgroup to develop and implement a plan to correct the identified issues.
