It can take a while for officials at the Social Security Administration to get medical records from the Department of Veteran Affairs. They usually have to submit a request manually, but things are about to change. A new partnership between the VA and SSA could make the whole disability application process way faster for our vets.
The Disability Application Process Just Got a Boost
The Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record Program (VLER) is used by the VA to share veteran health information between health care providers. It’s an electronic system that communicates with 775 hospitals, over 11,969 clinics, and other health care facilities all over the country. Now, the SSA could get to use VLER too.
The SSA requests almost 15 million medical records from health care officials every year, but this process can take a while. The administration must use a manual process to get these records, which can result in long wait times. However, a new initiative between the VA and SSA will allow disability processors to look up the medical info they need almost instantly.
The new Health IT initiative opens VLER to the SSA to help expedite the processing of veteran disability applications. This move is expected to not only save both agencies time, but it is also estimated to save money and improve service. However, only time will tell if this new initiative will do the trick.
Do you think this new program will help speed up processing time for veterans applying for Social Security Disability? Will it have any effect on the application wait times experienced by non-veterans? Could a similar electronic records system help stream line the disability application process for everyone else? Tell your Tulsa disability attorneys what you think by logging onto Facebook and Twitter to share your thoughts. Plus, you can learn more about the latest changes to your Social Security Disability benefits by following our blog.
