VOCA funds were an integral part of the success of the Texas Crime Victims? Compensation program this year.  The program received more than twenty-eight thousand applications from victims and over eight thousand applications for sexual assault exam reimbursements from law enforcement agencies.  In all, the program paid out $66.7 million in the last federal fiscal year.  As our compensation program faces solvency issues and increasing demands, our ability to receive federal funds is more crucial than ever.  We appreciate the funding that is available.

The Texas Crime Victims? Compensation program utilizes numerous management reports to measure claims processing at different points in the workflow.  One key measure for Texas is the number of days required to analyze and make the first payment on a claim.  This measure is defined as the average number of days required to make a payment on a bill from the date an application is received to the date the first voucher for payment is produced.    It includes the time required to obtain all necessary documentation, such as offense reports from law enforcement, itemized bills with collateral source information, and employment verification forms. The program uses data from automated weekly and monthly mainframe reports to compute the measure.  In the last state fiscal year (September 1, 2007 through August 31, 2008) the program averaged 82 days.