Context & Challenge

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recognized an urgent need to modernize its Debt Resolution services (now housed under Financial Management) to better support the financial well-being of Veterans and their beneficiaries.

The Critical Mission and High Stakes

• The Goal: Transition the management of VA benefit overpayments (e.g., disability, education) and medical copay debts from a cumbersome, siloed, and confusing legacy system to a transparent, centralized, and self-service digital platform on VA.gov.

• The Stakes: Debt notices, often resulting from VA administrative errors (overpayments), caused significant financial and psychological distress for vulnerable populations, leading to high call center volume, collections referrals to the U.S. Treasury, and erosion of Veteran trust.
  

Core Research Challenges

As the Lead UXR on the contract, the primary challenge was to embed an ethical, Veteran-centered approach within a highly regulated and policy-driven environment:

• Policy Complexity: Navigating intricate and non-negotiable legal and policy frameworks (e.g., debt collection standards, waiver eligibility, the Debt Collection Improvement Act) while translating this legalistic language into plain, accessible digital content and workflows.

• Sensitive Population & Trauma-Informed Design: Conducting research on a topic (debt) that elicits high anxiety, shame, and financial hardship, requiring the implementation of trauma-informed research practices and strict ethical protocols to ensure the safety and comfort of Veteran participants.

• Systemic Silos: The debt process involved multiple VA offices (VBA, VHA, Debt Management Center), each with its own systems, communications, and policies. The research had to unify the Veteran experience across these organizational silos.