Cincinnati VA director says Secretary Collins making progress on claims backlog

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The head of Cincinnati’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center said he has high hopes for local veterans under the leadership of national VA Secretary Doug Collins, who took office in February facing a massive claims backlog.

Collins told FOX19 NOW in an exclusive interview after his February confirmation that he inherited a backlog of some 260,000 unanswered claims, with some veterans waiting more than 125 days without answers.

“That is unacceptable,” Collins said.

Collins said the backlog is now well under 100,000.

“That means veterans are getting their answers quicker, they’re getting the answers that they need, and that’s just one of many things I’m proud of, how we’re working through, putting veterans first,” Collins said.

Cincinnati VA director meets with Collins

Cincinnati VA Medical Center Director Zach Sage met Collins right before coming to town.

“I think he’s a real champion for veterans,” Sage said. “He’s listening to veterans. And I think he’s trying to steer the agency, it’s a large agency, to make sure we’re providing the best possible services for veterans and their families.”

Collins, who served as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and previously served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, also pastored a church for 11 years.

“They taught me how to interact with people, how to love people, taught me how to listen to people, wish we always did it perfectly, we don’t, but it taught me people are the most important asset any organization has,” Collins said. “I actually had three of my members who were D-day plus a week in my congregation, and just to hear their stories, and to hear them not complain about things in their lives, was motivation for me, even to this day.”

Collins said the VA has been investing billions of dollars into hospitals.

“We’ve been investing billions of dollars into our hospitals, getting them up to standards where they’ve been left out, we have a 60+ year-old average hospital age,” Collins said.

Sage said he has faith in the changes happening at the national level.

“I think we have a unified front in wanting to make sure veterans get everything they’ve earned,” Sage said. “Not only are they going to have great health care outcomes, but they’re going to be getting care from an organization that loves them more than anybody else.”

In a matter of weeks, all Department of Defense medical records will go online at VA hospitals around the country.

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