The Department of Veterans Affairs’ disability claims backlog dropped below 70,000 this week for the first time in six years, a milestone the VA hasn’t seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
VA officials said Monday the number of backlogged claims — those pending for 125 days or more — has fallen by 74% since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025. They added that currently, just 11.6% of all pending claims were older than 125 days, compared with 70% of the 600,000 claims pending more than a decade ago.
The VA has invested millions in automated systems, including a program called Automated Decision Support that pulls together information from medical records and other evidence to synthesize information for claims adjudicators to consider when deciding a claim.
The department also increased the size of the processing staff by more than a third, adding 9,000 claims adjudicators from fiscal 2022 through fiscal 2024, and reinstated mandatory overtime in May 2025 to address the situation.
According to the VA, the department has decided more than a million claims in fewer than 30 days since January 2025. The average time a veteran waits now for a claim is roughly 78 days, officials added.
“This is what putting veterans first looks like,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “We are incredibly proud of these historic numbers, which mean faster decisions, better service and more benefits for the men and women who have worn the uniform.”
VA officials did not answer specific questions regarding the approval rate for the backlogged claims, but VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven said from October 1 through June 1, the total approval rate for compensation and pension benefits was “60%, in line with the last 10 years.”
According to Slaven, the top five conditions that received approval for initial filings were: tinnitus; paralysis of the sciatic nerve; limitation of knee flexion; lumbosacral or cervical strain; and migraine.
The VA’s claims backlog reached a record high of more than 611,000 in 2013 but was drawn down to roughly 70,000 by September 2015, the result of improvements in processing systems, increased use of digital medical records and hiring.
From then until early 2020, the claims backlog hovered at roughly 60,000 cases. VA officials said at the time that the 60,000 figure was likely the lowest the department could reach given the number of complex claims filed that need special attention to consider.
In early 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the backlog began to climb as a result of the closure of many VA processing centers, reaching 200,000 cases by the end of the year.
Following passage of the PACT Act, the landmark legislation that provided expanded benefits for veterans exposed to environmental pollutants while serving overseas, the number of claims filed skyrocketed. With the increase came a rise in the backlog, which peaked at 410,000 cases in 2023.
Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.
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