WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) has exceeded its annual goal of issuing 91,500 appeals decisions in fiscal year 2020.
The Board reached this goal weeks ahead of schedule and is on track to issue more decisions.
“This goal was reached ahead of schedule despite the challenges and difficulties of operating during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. This shows the Board’s agility, flexibility and most importantly its unwavering commitment to Veterans.”
The Board was able to quickly pivot to a 99% telework environment at the onset of COVID-19, to ensure that appeals decisions on VA benefits and services to Veterans were not delayed.
It has also provided Veterans the option to choose virtual tele-hearings, allowing them to continue to hold hearings before the Board in a safe, no-contact environment. Since March 23, the Board has held more than 3,000 virtual tele-hearings and continues to increase capacity for more Veterans to transition to a virtual hearing environment.
If you want to transition to a virtual tele-hearing, click here.
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Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.
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