Veteran Wait Times

​​​​Mar​yland Reduced Average Veteran Wait Times by over 50%

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 14 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  
  • 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 (MVA) 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.

Building on these efforts, the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families (DVMF) continued to expand access and improve service delivery, resulting in sustained performance and record outcomes for Maryland’s veterans. These changes have continued into FY 2025 and 2026. Most recently, the Department opened a new service office at the Annapolis MVA in August 2025, expanding accessibility and providing additional in-person support for veterans in the central Maryland region. In October 2025, DVMF added another co-located service office in Waldorf.

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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—by Nove​mber 2024.

Line chart illustrating decreased wait times in high demand locations  

Partly as a result of these changes, the Department of Veterans and Military Families’ three most backlogged service locations throughout Maryland saw dramatically decreased wait times.

  • Glen Burnie: Average wait time decreased from 61 days in FY2024, to 14 days in FY 2025, and to 3 days in FY 2026 YTD (as of December 2025).
  • Frederick: Average wait time decreased from 41 days in FY2024, to 6 days in FY 2025, and to 3 days in FY 2026 YTD (as of December 2025).
  • Bel Air: Average wait time decreased from 27 days in FY2024, to 12 days in FY 2025, and to 4 days in FY 2026 YTD (as of December 2025).

On average, wait times across Maryland for appointments with a claims specialist decreased by more than 50%—dropping from an average of nearly 11 days in July 2023 (the start of FY 2024) to under 4 days in June 2025 (the end of FY 2025). These wait times have continued to decrease since then (as of December 2025), and are now at a 75% reduction compared to July 2023.

Timely access to Veterans Affairs (VA) claims submission has led to significant financial benefits for veterans. In FY 2025, 6,038 VA claims were approved through the Department—up 26% from FY24 (4,788 claims) and $54.4 million in VA benefits were awarded—up 22% from FY24 ($44.7 million). This is a 1,843% return on the State’s $2.8 million program investment, and a 95.7% claims approval rate.

While wait times can vary slightly depending on staff availability, vacation schedules, and appointment volume, these results demonstrate the sustained impact of the Department’s commitment to accessibility, efficiency, and exceptional service for Maryland’s veterans and military families.