VHA continues to experience severe occupational staffing shortages despite being able to make non-competitive appointments. Image: Pamela Au/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffUnderstaffing in general, and especially in certain medical positions, worsened at VA’s Veterans Health Administration over the last year after several years of improvement, an inspector general report has said.
In the latest of annual reports on the department’s longstanding problem of high vacancy rates, the IG said that all 139 of the facilities it surveyed reported at least one severe occupational staffing shortage, in comparison with prior years in which at least a few reported none. Together, they reported 2,622 severe occupational staffing shortages across 285 occupations, compared with 2,152 across 256 occupations.
That included 87 percent that reported severe occupational staffing shortages for medical officers, while 91 percent of facilities reported severe shortages for nurses. Practical nurse was the most frequently reported clinical occupation with severe staffing shortages by 96 of those facilities, and custodial worker was the most frequently reported nonclinical occupation with severe staffing shortages, cited by 86 of them.
Other clinical occupations cited most commonly included psychology, psychiatry, medical technologist and primary care, while among non-clinical occupations they included medical support assistance, police, food service and general engineering.
“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 positions that are fundamental to the delivery of health care,” it said.
Overall, 22 occupations were identified as a severe occupational staffing shortage by at least 20 percent of facilities, up from 19 in 2021 and 17 in 2020—although down from 27 in FY 2019 and 31 in FY 2018.
In response, the VA said that while it can make non-competitive appointments through direct hire authority for some occupations, it “must still go through the recruitment processes at the medical centers due to collective bargaining agreements” and is affected by “ bargaining unit requirements, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health care workforce and the shortage of physicians and nurses in the larger labor market.”
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