Inspection of the VA Regional Office Fort Harrison, Montana

We found the Fort Harrison VARO staff did well in processing herbicide exposure-related and processing homeless veterans’ claims, and correcting STAR errors, as well as being generally effective in processing traumatic brain injury claims and handling claims-related mail. From the sample of disability claims reviewed, the VARO accurately processed 84 percent (70 of 83), putting them within the top 5 of VAROS inspected thus far. However, Management did not complete all elements of the SAOs as required; misinterpreted policy and erroneously thought it had the discretion to omit certain elements of VARO operations from its analyses. They were not always considering whether Gulf War veterans were eligible to receive health care treatment for mental disorders and their outreach to homeless shelters and service providers was not always effective. We recommended the Director implement and monitor a plan to correct the issues identified. The Director concurred with our recommendations and the planned actions are responsive. We will follow up as required on all actions.