Have you wondered how the BVA Veterans Service program (VSP) fulfills its mission of providing high quality representation before the Department of Veterans Affairs to blind and low vision veterans?
BVA National Service Director Duayne Driscoll has compiled a few of the most significant figures for the Veterans Service Program (VSP) in 2024. The results, reported and explained by Duayne below, reflect impressive accomplishments amid extraordinary challenges. Kudos to the BVA VSP!
During the calendar year 2024, our small team reported nearly 6,300 telephone calls and more than 1,200 emails related to claims and appeals assistance. We processed 173 faxes and about 60 pieces of snail mail containing claims, evidence, and other documents. Further, we had around 3,900 unspecified interactions, which include decision notifications, file review notes, awards reporting, and other activities that do not fit neatly into the other categories. Overall, the VSP completed 11,697 interactions last year!
As a result, the VSP accepted 477 requests for representation, submitted 439 intents to file, produced 448 new and increase claims, and presented 159 supplemental claims for previously denied issues. We requested Higher Level Review of denied claims 187 times and initiated eight formal appeals to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Board of Veterans Appeals. We submitted sixteen claims for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), among other miscellaneous and unreported items such as automobile allowance, housing, and caregiver benefits.
All of this activity bears fruit. VSP clients received retroactive compensation and pension payments totaling $1.97 million in 2024, and new or continued monthly benefits of $726,429, amounting to about $8.71 million for a full year. In this way, the VSP put more than $10.5 million in the hands of deserving veterans and their survivors over a one-year period.
Year over year, these benefits really add up. In VA’s Fiscal Year 2024, which ended September 30, 2024, all beneficiaries with BVA representation received a total of $60,888,067 in benefits. These include compensation, pension, and death benefits, which average to around $39,000 annually per award.
The VSP specializes in obtaining VA benefits related to service-connected vision loss. The regulations surrounding Special Monthly Compensation and ancillary benefits related to sight loss claims can be very complicated and often confuse even seasoned decision-makers at the VA Regional Offices. Veterans with blindness and low vision rely on BVA and VSP to make sure their ratings are complete and accurate.
The VSP works tirelessly to facilitate benefits delivery for blinded and low vision veterans, producing outstanding results with limited resources. We could easily multiply these numbers tenfold with a National Service Officer placed in each of the thirteen Blind Rehabilitation Centers. Just imagine how many more blinded veterans may benefit from high-quality claims and appeals assistance provided by BVA’s VSP!
