Federal Manager's Daily Report

A newly offered bill (S-1325) in the Senate seeks to address what its sponsors call “crippling” workforce shortages at the VA by improving the VA’s ability to recruit qualified medical professionals while incentivizing current employees to keep working at the VA.

The bipartisan backers say that the department currently has some 45,000 vacancies, about 38,000 of those in positions that deliver front-line care. “The VA also faces a high turnover rate of medical staff for higher-paying private sector positions and challenges recruiting qualified staff in rural areas,” said an announcement on the bill’s introduction.

It would: create a VA-wide database for vacant and hard-to-fill position; expand partnerships that bring recent graduates, veterans and private-sector employees to the VA; speed up and simplify hiring of licensed professional mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists and regional and local managers; and require exit surveys to determine why employees leave.