Veterans’ disability benefits claims were blindly rubber-stamped by a senior veterans service representative (VSR) at the Philadelphia VA Regional Benefit Office for years, resulting in an estimated $2.2 million in improper payments, a government watchdog report has found.

A hotline tip made about the employee resulted in an investigation which found they were approving payments at a high volume without even opening or reading attached documents.

The errors caused by the federal worker included improper payments to veterans, violations of regulations that could affect veterans’ benefits and procedural deficiencies, the report found.

The blind approvals occurred from at least fiscal year 2022 through 2024, when the employee was found to have authorized about 85,300 claims — 19 times the

See Full Page