VAOIG Uncovers 296,000 misplaced and 141,000 lost Veteran Claims Folders

VAOIG Report Summary: Audit of Veterans Benefits Administration’s Control of Veterans’ Claims Folders
Report Number 09-01193-228, 9/28/2009


This VAOIG report is particularly telling given the prior VAOIG report of shredding of veterans records and claim folders at virtually every VA office, and the previously convicted VA Attorneys for losing and destroying veteran's records and claim files for the purpose of denying their claims

"Claims folders for approximately 296,000 (7 percent) veterans were at locations different from that shown in COVERS (misplaced). Of the 296,000 misplaced claims folders, we projected about 55 percent were found in other locations inside the regional office, and the remaining 45 percent were found at the VA Records Management Center (RMC).

"Claims folders for approximately 141,000 (3 percent) veterans were lost. Additionally, all of the lost folders had records in COVERS and the Beneficiary Identification and Records Locator System (BIRLS) indicating the folders existed and at one time had been at a Federal Records Center, the RMC, or a regional office."