On the Cover ROI In Action: NMEDA’s VA Past Due Invoice Program Starts to Show Results

NMEDA’s VA Past Due Invoice Program Starts to Show Results

By Amy Schoppman

NMEDA DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Several years ago, NMEDA

began working with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on an informal Past Due Invoice

Program (“PDI Program”). I won’t bury the lede—the PDI Program has produced results: over $450,000 PDIs were resolved in 2019 Q4 and over $1,000,000 PDIs were paid in 2020 Q1. That said, history helps us connect with the past and understand the present (plus I doubt I can get away with a one-paragraph article…), so please take your seat for “PDIs 101.” Class is now in session.

NMEDA’s PDI Program was developed following a meeting between VA Central Office staff and NMEDA representatives. We had identified the prompt payment of VA invoices as one of several challenges that our members were experiencing with the administration of the Auto Grant and the Automobile Adaptive Equipment (AAE) Program. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) had an undeniable history of delayed and sometimes nonexistent vendor reimbursement, and both parties agreed to establish an informal PDI Program to improve the situation. Simple, right? Wrong—nothing is ever simple when it comes to the federal government [tap of my ruler on your knuckles]. Version 1.0 of NMEDA’s PDI Program led to sporadic successes, but we weren’t satisfied with the scope or magnitude of the results. The issue was elevated when NMEDA’s then-President Sam Cook testified before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (HVAC) during a hearing entitled, “Assessing VA’s Ability to Promptly Pay Third-Party days (nearly 6.5 years) past due—that Members of Congress were visibly shaking their heads from the dais. I don’t put much faith in federal agency efficiency, so I was unsurprised but nonetheless exasperated when, years later, little had changed: NMEDA and other witnesses had (correctly) roasted VA at a public hearing and,

Procedural HVAC Health Subcommittee hearings don’t usually elicit gasps, but one invoice managed to do so: it was so humiliating—2,368 days (nearly 6.5 years) past due... ”

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Vendors.” In news sure to shock absolutely nobody reading this, Sam testified that VA’s abilities in this arena were (paraphrasing) “not good.” In fact, VA not was so “not good” at prompt payment—which is defined as payment of a vendor’s valid and proper invoice within 30 days of receipt by the responsible federal agency—that, over a five-year period, NMEDA dealers reported nearly 4,000 PDIs totaling over $30,000,000 and averaging 271 days past due (with 63% of invoices 180+ days late and 16% of invoices 365+ days late). Procedural HVAC Health Subcommittee hearings don’t usually elicit gasps, but one invoice managed to do so: it was so humiliating—2,368 while certain VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) and clinics notorious for late payment scrambled under the pressure to resolve outstanding invoices and avoid further scrutiny of their payment practices, the “fix” was temporary. VA had done little to meaningfully reform its payment practices, and NMEDA members across the country were still struggling to resolve PDIs. Meanwhile, the quality, safety, and timeliness of disabled veterans’ automotive mobility solutions were being jeopardized as QAP-accredited dealers began to reconsider working with VA, or reluctantly realized that they could simply no longer trust or afford to work with VA at all. At

this point, NMEDA’s GR team began aggressively pursuing a multipronged approach to PDI resolutions:

Take Responsibility.

Criticizing bureaucratic inefficiencies is as American as baseball and apple pie. I’m almost worried (and I write this in jest, IRS Agent Who May Inconceivably Be Reading This) that NMEDA will lose its tax-exempt status if we don’t continue criticizing VA, but it’s important to recognize that our members are not entirely blameless here. Based on my conversations with both NMEDA members and VHA/ VBA personnel, mistakes (forgotten signatures, missing documentation, etc.) and other presumably inadvertent errors and omissions have been—and continue to be— made when invoices are submitted to VA. In response, NMEDA clarified its PDI Program submission criteria, emphasizing that submissions may only include properly documented, pre-authorized, undisputed, and currently unpaid invoices that a vendor has already made at least one direct attempt to resolve. The revised submission guidelines have resulted in fewer “rejected” or “duplicate” PDI Program invoices and have enhanced the trust and partnership between NMEDA and VA on this issue. Thank you to those who have cooperated: when presented with complete and accurate information, both NMEDA and VA are better able to fully embark upon the considerable task of improving the efficiency of a decades-old, paper-based, wildly inconsistent, and seemingly incomprehensible/subjective payment process. of NMEDA’s PDI Program. You may recall the Congressman from his appearance (via video) at the 2020 NMEDA Conference, when he elaborated upon his commitment to ensuring that VA reimburses thirdparty vendors promptly. A Marine Corps veteran with a highly processoriented staff, Rep. Gallego and his office did a significant amount of work last year to address PDIs in Arizona, including the resolution of almost $300,000 in overdue payments in the Phoenix area alone. Acknowledging that VA’s payment difficulties impact mobility equipment dealers nationwide, Rep. Gallego has also secured a written commitment from VBA to “improve the AAE invoice process and ensure that... vendors who have rendered goods and services are reimbursed timely in compliance with the Prompt Pay Act (31 USC §3901-3907).”

In addition to Rep. Gallego’s office, NMEDA’s GR team has been concurrently working with HVAC’s VBA-focused staff and additional Congressional offices to communicate our members’ predicaments and resolve outstanding payments. Our approach emphasizes that the PDI issue is larger than VA simply paying a few bills a little late: VA’s Prompt Payment Act violations cause serious operational and payroll issues for businesses which cannot afford to go unpaid while also meeting their other obligations, and this is particularly relevant in today’s environment. NMEDA’s GR team ensures that decision-makers understand the real-world impact delayed payments have on the ability of dealers—and manufacturers—to continue providing life-changing products and services to disabled veterans. Over the past 6+ months we have cultivated and established a network of Congressional Members and staffers who not only understand but genuinely care about this issue. They have been instrumental to our recent progress and can lead to additional advancements, e.g., VBA staff meetings, another Congressional hearing, and/or an investigation into the matter by the VA Office of Inspector General (the division responsible for conducting oversight of VA programs and operations).

Standardize Submissions.

As of today, I am personally aware of 61 different “paperwork submission checklists” used by NMEDA dealers seeking to work more cooperatively and efficiently with their VAMCs and clinics. I fully support cooperation and efficiency, but SIXTY-ONE [slowly writes “61” on the chalkboard in a comically exaggerated manner]

mean that, Patrick. This approach is being pursued because it is sensible, and because it is likely to produce positive results.)

Keep Going.

I realize it may seem straightforward— “I would like to be paid in a timely manner for the work that VA has approved and is responsible for funding”—but the practical reality different checklists? This is, by any reasonable standard, far too many checklists. I understand and appreciate the time and effort that went into the creation of said checklists, but NMEDA will be taking a “greatest good for the greatest number” approach by collaborating with VA on the development of standardized submission criteria for 1394 and 4502

VA’s payment patterns have improved—in terms of both accuracy and timeliness—but collective, sustained pressure must be applied if we want a permanent solution to emerge from this effort. ”

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paperwork. (I did bury that lede.) Those 61+ checklists will eventually be whittled down to a far fewer number of checklists, all of which—once finalized—will be available to NMEDA members nationwide.

(For the record, we are not pursuing this approach because I am a “Bentham Head”—a strange, politically nerdy, and ultimately inaccurate characterization that an inconceivably irritating college classmate literally shouted at me fifteen years ago, as if my tepid appreciation of English political philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s concept of Utilitarianism meant that I supported the advancement of Utopian Socialism. It didn’t necessarily is, unfortunately, not so facile. VA is the second-largest federal agency in the U.S., has hundreds of thousands of employees (10-80-10 Principle, anyone?), utilizes outdated technology, and needs our help and cooperation to be and do better. VA’s payment patterns have improved— in terms of both accuracy and timeliness—but collective, sustained pressure must be applied if we want a permanent solution to emerge from this effort.

I have been working with, and will continue to work with, NMEDA members big and small—on PDI submissions, PDI resolutions, checklist criteria, and by listening to (and learning from) member comments and criticisms regarding payment process/procedure peccadilloes at particular VAMCs and clinics. Yes, part of the strategy involves applying Utilitarian principles [this will be on the quiz…] to the VA invoice submission process so that all NMEDA members can experience enduring, certain, accurate, and prompt payments from VA. Yes, part of the strategy involves me metaphorically shoving it in Patrick’s pretentious face at our college reunion because I absolutely hold grudges and I’ve been hanging onto this one since 2005. (In fairness to me, Patrick’s disdain for Bentham—a man so impossibly cool he requested that his body be preserved and wheeled out at parties if his friends missed him—is arguably a personal flaw. But that’s an article for another day…). Ultimately, the overwhelming motivation behind this effort is NMEDA’s genuine dedication to benefitting and elevating our members’ performance via meaningful government action.

NMEDA will proceed with this steady approach until we reach an effective and sustainable solution to the ongoing prompt payment issue. Please keep submitting your PDIs and know that I am actively working with VA to address your concerns. Unless of course you are That Patrick, in which I case I have some highly specific revenge to deliver.

Class dismissed. ---