How automation is showing a lot of promise in approving veterans’ survivors dependency claims

When a veteran passes away, it currently takes more than two months, on average for VA to process their survivors’ claims for dependency and indemnity compensation. But automation is helping to drastically shorten that timeline. Assuming the application’s complete, the department can now approve those claims within about four hours – without a claims processor ever having to see it. Kevin Friel is deputy director of VA’s Pension and Fiduciary Service. He joined the Federal Drive to talk more about how they’ve been using automation in his section of the department.