Modernizing All Veterans and Survivors

This bill pushes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use more automation so veterans and survivors can get their claims handled faster and more accurately. It requires a plan for a tool that can pull needed records, gather evidence, help with decision-making, share info across agencies, and create letters about a claim. It also requires the VA to fix how documents are labeled in its Veterans Benefits Management System, so files don’t get misfiled or lost.

Within one year after the VA submits its plan, every VA office that processes pension or survivor claims must at least use automation to help generate claim letters. The VA must also set up alerts so a claims worker is assigned when a child’s dependency payment goes up or when a veteran’s child is paid education benefits, helping keep families’ benefits in sync.

Key points:

• Who is affected: Veterans, survivors, and their families; VA claims staff.
• What changes: VA must plan and roll out an automation tool; improve info-sharing and correspondence; add alerts for child-related benefits; ensure correct document labels in the VA’s system.
• When: The plan comes first; within one year after that, VA offices handling pension or survivor claims must use automation at least for generating letters.