The Department of Veterans Affairs internal watchdog released a report Wednesday which showed several instances in which the agency’s automated business rules within the VA’s electronic systems improperly triggered debt collection from veterans.
The VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) discovered several instances in which the agency collected debts without first providing veterans with legally required notice, and attributed the errors to automated rules followed by a software program.
The OIG review team identified three scenarios in which VA improperly reduced payments to veterans to collect debts created under the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) compensation program: debts collected by reducing the retroactive payments created in the same award, debts collected by reducing the retroactive payments created in a later award, and debts collected by reducing monthly benefit payments… Read the full article here.
