Veteran Wait Times

​​​Maryland Reduced Veteran Wait Times at Benefits Service Locations to No More than 15 Days as of November 2024​

The Challenge

​T​he Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families assists veterans, service members, and their families in accessing the federal benefits they earned through military service. Benefits include U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation and pension, enrollment in Veterans Affairs health care, and dependents and survivors benefits.

In FY 2024, the Department’s Service Program filed nearly 5,100 Veterans Affairs claims – the highest annual total in the program’s recent history. These claims resulted in almost $45 million in compensation to Maryland’s veterans. While veterans have the option to file their claims online, many prefer in-person appointments to help them navigate the claims process; and the number of days veterans have to wait for an appointment with a claims specialist had reached, for some locations, four to nine weeks. The Department found differences across the Service Program’s 15 locations across the State when they began centrally tracking wait times in July 2023, so they set out to ensure Maryland’s government was more responsive to the needs of veterans.

Our Solution​

In 2024, the Department of Veterans and Military Families made changes to reduce wait times and simplify service access.

Line chart illustrating northern regional service office wait times decreasing from November 2023 to November 2024 
  • The Department of Veterans and Military Families partnered with the Department of Budget and Management to change three open positions into three benefits specialists to the Service Program staff. This allowed the Service Program to hire more staff to increase the number of appointments available for veterans.
  • The Department observed particularly high wait times at the Bel Air office – peaking at 55 days in spring 2024. The Department partnered with the Motor Vehicle Administration to open a DVMF service office at the Elkton, MD Motor Vehicle Administration in May 2024, relieving regional demand being placed on a single location.
  • The Department centralized appointment scheduling for high-demand locations at its Baltimore headquarters, enabling leadership to redistribute appointments from high-demand offices to those with lower demand. Staff contacted individuals with appointments at busy locations to offer phone appointments or in-person slots at less crowded offices, effectively balancing workloads.

Results of Our Work

This multi-pronged approach reduced bottlenecks and resulted in all offices achieving wait times of 15 days or less – with most locations under 5 days – in November 2024.

Partly as a result of these changes, the Department of Veterans and Military Families’ three most backlogged service locations throughout Maryland have seen dramatically decreased wait times over the past 13 months – from November 2023 to November 2024:

Line chart illustrating decreased wait times over the past 13 months as noted in the text 
  • Glen Burnie has dropped from 61 days to 15 days.
  • Frederick has dropped from 41 days to 4 days.
  • Bel Air has dropped from 27 days to 9 days.

Timely access to Veterans Affairs claims submission has led to significant financial benefits for veterans. During the first four months of FY 2025 alone, the program successfully secured $17.5 million in monthly and retroactive monetary awards for veterans compared to $14.6 million in the first four months of FY 2024, ensuring that those who served receive the benefits they have earned.​