VA looking at restructuring office

On June 29, Carl Davis, The American Legion's team chief for VA's Washington Regional Office and Appeals Management Center (AMC), attended the monthly joint meeting between the Department of Veterans Affairs' Washington Regional Office and veterans service organizations. Topics discussed focused on the restructuring of the Washington Regional Office to include the plan to hire/promote 20 new rating specialists and start a summer class to train them on Appeals Management Center procedures.

Increased focus on efforts at the Washington Regional Office is on veteran satisfaction, and a review of all VA employees is being undertaken to see what changes in positions must be made to improve that focus. Additionally, some of the functions and personnel at the Washington Regional Office will be moved to the Appeals Management Center in order to streamline and increase both quality and quantity of reviews. The American Legion is the only VSO at this time to maintain an employee structure in support of the Appeals Management Center, and, in fact, the Legion doubled its workforce at the Appeals Management Center last year. Other VSOs are studying their initial withdrawal of support and are anticipated to renew their workforce at the center next year.