Veterans Benefits Triage/Education Sessions

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Alachua County Veterans Benefits Triage/Education Sessions ensure that veterans and their families receive earned benefits in a timely manner. Over the past four years, the Triage/Education Session process has been developed and fine-tuned, becoming an efficient way to serve the growing veteran population. The system of routing veterans and their dependents through the educational sessions, ensuring that veteran claims for benefits are filed via the Fully Developed Claim process has resulted in claims being awarded at a much faster rate. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that its’ claims process takes 16-24 months to render a decision. If the veteran dies before the VA makes a determination, the pending benefit application will not be awarded posthumously. Through the education provided to veterans by this program, average claim filed by the Alachua County Veteran Services take 3.6-4.8 months. Prior to this process, a veteran seeking assistance typically waited several hours to be seen. Veterans who were seen were not prepared to have claims processed and would have to return an average of five to seven times before having all of the documentation together. Currently, veterans who walk-in are seen within a few minutes and are triaged. Their immediate needs are addressed and they are scheduled for an education session targeted to their specific situation. The objective of the Veterans Benefits Triage/Education Sessions is to ensure that veterans and their dependents are effectively triaged, routed to the appropriate plan for service and educated. This process allows them to understand why and how the veteran claims for benefits are filed along with the rationale for the need to prove eligibility. Effective communication and an educated understanding as the claim is developed, results in the VA making faster determinations, ultimately providing benefits to veterans at their time of need.