Mr. Chair, I have a couple of examples whereby we have delegated decision-making authority to what we call the front line, making sure the decisions are made as close to the veteran as possible, whereas in the past, some of those decisions had to be escalated to either regional or central office for adjudication.
In the case of the rehabilitation program, we have delegated the decision-making authority for program eligibility to the case manager. We have also delegated authority to the case manager for making decisions on benefits within the rehabilitation plan.
That enables the case manager to put interventions into place very quickly. It enables the veterans to receive those needed benefits much earlier than they would have otherwise if the decision-making had remained at a higher level.