ms. edna macdonald, director for national regional office. the third panel will host ms. ms. sondra mccauley, deputy assistant inspector general for audit and evaluations with office of inspector general u.s. department of veterans affairs who will be accompanied by mr. brent arronte, director of san diego benefits inspections division. additionally the hearing record will include written statements from disabled american veterans. the tragedy assistance program for survivors than ms. schaffer's wife of the veterans with instructions complete, thank you for being here today. i now yield to the ranking member for her opening statement. >> well, thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you wrote in this important hearing. i also like to thank the witnesses here today for their time and trouble to come and share information with us. first, i want to applaud the va for reducing the benefit by 34% in march of 2014. we know the va can maintain this momentum and we are optimistic. we want to end this decade-long backlog and we are moving in that direction. our numbers indeed show the va i

ms. edna macdonald of the regional office.the vba continues to express an increasing number complexity number complexity of regional issues you between 2011 and 2013, the average number of issues and claims increased by 31% from 5.52 mike 72. in response, bba implement the new operating model. epa has noticed increase in complexity from the newer generations of veterans who participated in operations during iraqi freedom and udon. you can hear a greater chance of surviving are his injuries and often return home with multiple serious conditions. in addition, vba continues to receive credit for veterans of the vietnam era. many become complicated because they are subject to federal court orders in the u.s. department of veterans affairs department of veterans affairs. organizational model incorporates cross functional teams working on one of three segmented lanes, express cooperations. things were created based on complexity and priority of claims. the express lane develops and writes claims with a limited number of issues and s

ms. edna macdonald of the regional office.the vba continues to express an increasing number complexity number complexity of regional issues you between 2011 and 2013, the average number of issues and claims increased by 31% from 5.52 mike 72. in response, bba implement the new operating model. epa has noticed increase in complexity from the newer generations of veterans who participated in operations during iraqi freedom and udon. you can hear a greater chance of surviving are his injuries and often return home with multiple serious conditions. in addition, vba continues to receive credit for veterans of the vietnam era. many become complicated because they are subject to federal court orders in the u.s. department of veterans affairs department of veterans affairs. organizational model incorporates cross functional teams working on one of three segmented lanes, express cooperations. things were created based on complexity and priority of claims. the express lane develops and writes claims with a limited number of issues and s

with the veterans benefits administration accompanied i miss edna macdonald director of the regional office and the third panel will host ms. sandra mccauley deputy assistant inspector general for audits and evaluations with office of the inspector general u.s. department of veterans affairs who will be accompanied by mr. mr. brett bronze director of san diego benefits inspections division. additionally the hearing record will include written statements from disabled american veterans, the tragedy assistance program for survivors and the wife of an air force veteran derek shafer with those instructions complete i thank you for being here and i yield to the ranking member for her opening statement. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you for holding this important hearing. i also would like to thank the witnesses you mentioned who are here today for their time and trouble to share information with us. first i want to applaud the va for reducing the log by 34% since march of 2013. we know that the va can maintain this momentum and we are optimistic. we want to end this decades long backlog and we are moving in that direction