Vaccine injury compensation, most claims took multiple years and many were settled through negotiation : report to the Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives.
Publication Info.
[Washington, D.C.] : United States Government Accountability Office, 2014.
Most of more than 9,800 claims filed with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) since fiscal year 1999 have taken multiple years to adjudicate (see fig.). More than 1,000 (11 percent) of claims filed since fiscal year 1999 were still in process (pending) as of March 31, 2014; most of these were pending for 2 years or less. A greater percentage of the claims filed since fiscal year 2009 were resolved within 1 or 2 years. In all but 1 year since fiscal year 2009, the program has met the target for the average time to adjudicate claims (about 3.5 years) tracked by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which administers the program. Officials from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (USCFC), where VICP claims are adjudicated, report that delays may occur while petitioners gather evidence for their claims. Since 2006, about 80 percent of compensated claims have been resolved through a negotiated settlement.
Note
Online resource, PDF version; title from cover (GAO web site, viewed Feb. 6, 2017).
