Coast Guard: Monitoring of Disability Evaluation System Could Be Improved

What GAO Found

The Coast Guard’s disability evaluation system (DES) determines whether injured or ill service members are medically fit to perform their duties and, if not, whether they are eligible for certain disability benefits. The Coast Guard has been transitioning to a new, integrated DES that combines its older legacy DES with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability evaluation process. Coast Guard documentation states that the goal of the integrated DES is to determine both Coast Guard and VA disability benefits more efficiently for members who are found unfit for duty. As of September 2025, all Coast Guard sites had transitioned to the integrated DES, according to Coast Guard officials.

The Coast Guard‘s current goal is to complete legacy DES cases within 270 days. However, less than half of the legacy DES cases closed from October 2022 through May 2025 met this goal, according to GAO analysis (see figure).

Duration of Legacy Disability Evaluation System Cases Closed from October 2022 through May 2025

The Coast Guard’s current goal is to complete integrated DES cases within 265 days. More than half of integrated DES cases (15 of 23) closed from August 2024 through April 2025 met this goal. The Coast Guard is planning to adopt the Department of Defense’s goal of completing integrated DES cases in 180 days.

Coast Guard officials told GAO they face challenges in meeting timeliness goals, such as insufficient staffing, difficulty obtaining complete medical records, and a rise in members’ rebuttals and appeals of DES determinations. The officials described steps they have taken to address the challenges, such as providing training to clinic staff and analyzing trends in rebuttals and appeals.

GAO found that the Coast Guard has taken some steps to monitor the performance of both the legacy and integrated DES but has not fully applied GAO’s leading practices for program management. Specifically, according to officials, the Coast Guard has taken an informal approach to monitoring the legacy and integrated DES, such as discussing concerns and the timeliness of individual cases at weekly all-staff meetings. Contrary to leading practices for program monitoring, the Coast Guard has not established a balanced set of performance goals that cover various program priorities, including the accuracy of its decisions. Similarly, the Coast Guard does not have a plan for monitoring progress toward achieving DES goals or identifying risks to achieving them. Fully applying leading practices for program monitoring could focus DES resources on program priorities, improve overall performance, and help members receive the benefits they deserve without delay. These practices are especially important when programs are not meeting performance goals.

Why GAO Did This Study

The Coast Guard, a military service within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for various missions, including drug interdiction and search and rescue. In carrying out the Coast Guard’s missions, some of its approximately 55,000 members may become injured or ill.

The James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 includes a provision for GAO to review the Coast Guard’s DES. This Q&A report examines the DES process, its timeliness goals and related challenges, and the extent to which the Coast Guard has applied leading practices for program monitoring.

GAO reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, policies, and procedures and interviewed Coast Guard officials. GAO also analyzed Coast Guard data on the timeliness of legacy DES cases closed from October 2022 through May 2025 and integrated DES cases closed from August 2024 to April 2025. GAO found these data to be reliable for the purposes of calculating case length and how often members used Coast Guard attorneys in the DES process. GAO also compared the Coast Guard’s methods for monitoring DES performance to Coast Guard policies and leading practices from previous GAO work.