U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins visited San Antonio on Wednesday to highlight what the agency says are significant improvements in veterans’ health care and benefits services while recognizing employees at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System for their service.
Collins toured the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Hospital and met with veterans and staff as part of what the department described as an effort to improve VA care, benefits, and customer service nationwide.
During a media briefing, Collins pointed to reductions in the agency’s disability claims backlog as one of the VA’s most significant achievements.
“We had over a million claims when I first started. We’re down to about 500,000 now,” Collins said. “So we’re not only taking the backlog down, we’re taking the influx that comes in. So we’re actually at a point where we’re almost finishing more than we’re taking in.”…