Funds requested will provide for travel expenses incurred in (a) visits by traveling sections of the Board to field stations for the purpose of conducting hearings; (b) travel of the Chairman and his staff for the purpose of participating in major service organization conventions and other meetings pertaining to veterans' affairs; and (c) travel expenses incurred by new employees transferred from the field.

Traveling sections of the Board, which comprise the major portion of our travel, bring our services closer to the veteran, promote better understanding by service organization representatives and other case advocates, help the veteran to develop his case more fully, and enable the Board, especially the medical member, to evaluate first-hand the veteran's disabilities.

The funds requested are to provide for the shipment of household goods for employees expected to be transferred from field stations and for the cost of shipping dictated material to our Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Transcription Section.

The most significant contractual services cost is for procuring expert medical opinions under the provisions of Public Law 87-671 (38 U.S.c. 4009 (a) and (b)). When, in the judgment of the Board, expert medical opinion, in addition to that available within the Veterans Administration, is warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in an appeal case, the Board is authorized to secure an advisory medical opinion from one or more independent medical experts who are not employees of the Veterans Administration.

Costs for miscellaneous contractual services consist primarily of machine service contracts and are for the maintenance of the Board's remote control dictating equipment located in Washington, D.C. and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; also for maintenance service of electric typewriters located in Wilkes-Barre and other electrical equipment in Washington.

Supplies and Materials

Office supplies and materials ... $4,534

$6,000 $6,000

Estimated costs include records and tapes for dictating purposes, microfilm, and office supplies and materials normally required in day-to-day operations.

Estimated costs are for normal replacement of equipment which meets the standards for replacement and for non-serviceable items of furniture requiring replacement.

Mr. BOLAND. In the average employment under "Attorney Advisers," there is an increase of eight since 1970. Why this increase from 86 to 94?

Mr. JOHNSON. I will let the Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals respond to that. It will include, of course, the increased workload that is coming to them. Mr. Stancil?

Mr. STANCIL. As the Administrator said, Mr. Chairman, the change from 1970 to 1971 represented an increase in workload.

APPEAL PROCESSING TIME AND BACKLOG

Mr. BOLAND. How long does it take to get a decision from the Board of Veterans' Appeals? What is the average time?

Mr. STANCIL. The average time from the time an appeal is initiated, all of the functions in the regional office are completed, the case certified to the Board, and a decision made by the Board runs around 7 calendar months.

Mr. BOLAND. Is there a backlog in this activity or is the workload current?

Mr. STANCIL. There is a backlog, sir. A normal pipeline situation, that is, workload out in the field and in the Board in Washington would be around 21,000 cases in all stages of development. As of the end of 1970 the total pending caseload in the field and Washington was 25,810. That breaks down to about 18,000 in the field and 7,000 in the Board. This is in excess of around 3,000 cases higher than normal workload in the field offices, and around 2,000 in the Board. We are working our backlog off by overtime work for the remainder of this fiscal year.

NUMBER OF BOARDS

Mr. BOLAND. How many Boards do you have sitting on these appeals?

Mr. STANCIL. There are 13 sections of the Board.

Mr. BOLAND. Thirteen sections of the Board?

Mr. STANCIL. Three-member sections; yes, sir.

Mr. JONAS. Would you yield right there?

Mr. BOLAND. Yes.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF AWARD

Mr. JONAS. This delay would be intolerable except for the fact that it actually doesn't cost the veteran anything because if you make an award it is retroactive, isn't it?

Mr. STANCIL. Yes, sir.

Mr. JONAS. So he gets his back compensation if his claim is approved. Mr. JOHNSON. Congressman, it goes back to the date of the filing of the claim and we are very lenient in that.

Mr. JONAS. He doesn't actually lose money?

Mr. JOHNSON. For example, just the other day we had a case in which a Congressman wrote a letter and we considered this as an informal appeal and as it moves forward that will be the date that will be used.

Mr. BOLAND. You said that the effective date goes back to the

date of the filing of the claim. You also indicated this letter, insofar as the VA is concerned, is in the nature of an appeal and that the effective date would go back to that letter. This is rather inconsistent, isn't it?

Mr. STANCIL. May I explain that? A claim coming before the Board can be an appeal from the original adjudication of the claim or a reopened claim adjudication and there are some rather technical requirements as to the effective date of an award, but in general when the Board of Veterans' Appeals reverses a field office action, then the effective date will be the same as if that field action had been favorable. Take the case of a reopened claim. In most instances the effective date would be the date of reopening.

APPEAL PROCESSING TIME

Mr. OwEN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to add to the record to clarify this matter of the 7 months' time. The impression is left that there may be some inaction or times of no action on the appeal. When the appeal is filed at the field station then a statement of the case is prepared at the field station level. This statement of the case is then furnished to the veteran and also to his representative or attorney, if he has either, and then he is advised that he may submit a formal appeal if he so chooses. We suggest that he file within 60 days if he wishes to file, although he is not bound to 60 days. Quite a bit of time could elapse by the time the statement is written and until he actually files the formal appeal. Also on the matter of development, he may be reexamined and this would take some time, so all this 7 months is not time of inaction.

SEPARATE APPELLATE REVIEW BODY

Mr. BOLAND. Would there be any merit to creating a completely separate appellate review body to hear veterans' appeals? Mr. JOHNSON. Fred, will you respond to this?

Mr. RHODES. This, is, of course one proposal that I guess has been considered over the years. I think all of us feel a sense of great pride toward the work that the Board is doing. On the question of whether or not you could ever establish a court or panel of any sort of last resort so that that would be the end of it, these cases have a way of cropping up and new evidence being developed. I am not sure that we would know how a court would function any better than the Board of Veterans Appeals does. They do a mangificent job.

CASELOAD

Mr. BOLAND. Once again, how many appeals are heard in the course of a year by the Board of Veterans Appeals?

Mr. STANCIL. We expect a caseload this fiscal year of 24,500. That is the number that reaches the Board of Veterans Appeals for decision. There will be 43,000 appeals initiated. Statement of the case process Mr. Owen was referring to will take place, and about 48 percent will be settled at the field office level without ever coming to the Board. Twenty-four thousand five hundred is the annual workload of the Board and the number of decisions that we will make.

Mr. BOLAND. How many of these appeal cases are there in which the veteran actually appears? Is it just a matter of looking at the appeal file, then looking over the paper work and that's it?

Mr. STANCIL. No. It is a case file review, of course, in the final analysis, but in the process the veteran is guaranteed the right of personal appearance.

PERSONAL APPEALS

Mr. BOLAND. How often does he exercise that right? Of the 24,500 cases you are going to have this year. how many veterans will appear? Mr. STANCIL. To give you the figure for both hearings in the field and in Washington, I will have to supply it for the record, sir.

Mr. BOLAND. All right.

(The information follows:)

Each appellant's right of personal hearing is guaranteed by law (38 U.S.C. 4002) and the Board's Rules of Practice (38 C.F.R. 19.133). A hearing may be before the Board in Washington, D.C., before a travel section of the Board sitting in a field office, or when neither of these is practicable, before field office personnel sitting as a hearing agency for the Board. In all instances, a verbatim transcript of the hearing proceedings is placed in the case record.

Based on past experience, the estimated total caseload of 24,500 will produce personal hearings as follows:

Personal hearings before a section of the Board of Veterans Appeals in
Washington, Ď.C..

Personal hearings before a travel section of the Board of Veterans Appeals.. Personal hearings before appropriate personnel in field offices acting as a hearing agency for the Board of Veterans Appeals....

Total personal hearings-----.

500

500

2,500

3, 500

In addition to the formal hearings cited above, service organization representative stationed in Washington, D.C. will submit for the record informal hearing briefs in 7,800 cases.

SEPARATE APPELLATE REVIEW BODY

Mr. STANCIL. But I might say in addition that 80 percent of the veterans and other claimants whose appeals come before the Board are represented mainly by service organizations such as the Legion, VFW, DAV, and so on. Those organizations make appearances or file briefs, either in the field or in Washington, in nearly every case that they represent.

Mr. JOHNSON. In response to your first question here, I would like to have John Corcoran, General Counsel, reply to it.

Mr. CORCORAN. On the establishment of a separate Court of Veterans Appeals?

Mr. BOLAND. Yes.

Mr. CORCORAN. I think everybody, Mr. Chairman, is motivated, regardless of which side of the question they are on, toward the same end. That is to say, let's have the best possible system for the veteran to see that he gets the best possible consideration. Those who oppose the establishment of a Court of Veterans Appeals, and, incidentally, they include the Legion and the VFW-those organizations are against the establishment of a separate court-fear that if you wound up the whole process in court you would have to formalize the proceedings in the VA so that you would begin to be guided by the rules of evidence