High vacancy rates have been a longstanding concern at the VA, which in numbers of employees is the government’s second-largest department, behind DoD. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffStaffing shortages remain “widespread” at the VA despite recent growth in employment, an inspector general report has said, based on a survey in which facilities identified 3,118 shortages across 282 occupations that they deem to be “severe.”
That included 92 percent of Veterans Health Administration facilities reporting severe shortages for nurses, 88 percent for medical officers, 70 percent for medical support assistance and 67 percent for practical nurses. Said the IG, “Despite the ability to make non-competitive appointments for such occupations and annual net increases in onboard staffing levels since FY 2017, VHA continues to experience severe occupational staffing shortages for these occupations that are fundamental to the delivery of health care.”
Every VHA facility reported at least two severe occupational staffing shortages; 25 occupations were identified as severely short-staffed by at least a fifth of facilities; and the 3,118 total was up by 19 percent over a similar survey for 2022, it said. The report did not list numbers of unfilled positions, noting that would vary by the size of the facility and that the focus was to identify the most common shortages by occupation.
High vacancy rates have been a longstanding concern at the VA, which in numbers of employees is the government’s second-largest department, behind DoD. That concern resulted in a requirement that the IG assess the state of VA staffing annually, although unlike many IG reports it makes no formal recommendations and does not contain management comments.
In addition to positions directly related to medical care, other occupations with vacancy rates that facilities deemed to be severer included custodial worker, food service worker and police.
VA officials recently touted progress on hiring at a briefing for news media, saying the VHA, which accounts for about nine-tenths of the workforce, is now above 400,000 employees for the first time. The department is on track to exceed its hiring targets for the year, they said, although acknowledging that shortages still exist in certain occupations, especially nursing.
Several laws enacted in recent years gave VA new authorities designed to improve recruitment and retention, for example by granting shortcut hiring authority, increasing pay in certain occupations and allowing for more liberal incentive and bonus payments. One of those laws meanwhile created a need for more employees to review claims related to exposure to hazards from military burn pits, and to care for those found eligible.
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