Every one of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) medical facilities reported “severe occupational staffing shortages” to a government watchdog, which found a 50% increase in total shortages from fiscal year 2024 to 2025, according to a Tuesday report.
The review from the VA’s Office of Inspector General (VA OIG) identified 4,434 total severe occupational staffing shortages among Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities as of April.
A severe shortage, as described in the report, does not necessarily indicate a vacant position, but denotes “particular occupations that are difficult to fill, and a shortage exists” as described under federal guidelines.
The VA OIG’s report found that 94% of the VHA’s 139 facilities reported severe occupational staffing shortages for medical officer roles, and that 79% did the same for nurse positions. Excluding those two roles, 41 other occupations were identified as severe occupational staffing shortages by at least 20% of VHA facilities—the highest number since fiscal year 2018, when the VA OIG first began surveying individual VHA medical facilities.
Fifty-seven percent reported severe occupational staffing shortages for psychology and 58% for police, making those two roles the most frequently reported clinical and non-clinical occupations, respectively.
The number of severe occupational staffing shortages at individual facilities ranged from two to 153. The largest quantity of clinical occupational shortages at a single facility was 116, and the largest nonclinical was 52.
“Despite the ability to make noncompetitive appointments for such occupations, VHA continues to experience severe occupational staffing shortages for these occupations that are fundamental to the delivery of healthcare,” the watchdog wrote in its report.
The timing of the VA OIG’s facility survey was shortly after the VA had circulated plans internally to cut more than 80,000 roles, though it ultimately settled on fewer than 30,000 cut jobs. That cutback, as well as a government-wide deferred resignation program (commonly referred to as the “fork in the road”), “are not fully reflected in this report,” the watchdog wrote.
Surveys returned to the VA OIG by VHA facilities also were not independently verified for accuracy or completeness, the VA OIG wrote.
In a statement given to multiple press outlets, Pete Kasperowicz, press secretary for the VA, said the report “is not a reliable indicator of staffing shortages” due to its use of the severe occupational staffing shortages metric.
"The report simply lists occupations facilities feel are difficult for which to recruit and retain, so the results are completely subjective, not standardized and unreliable," he said in the statement. "VA's department-wide vacancy rates for doctors and nurses are 14% and 10%, respectively. These are lower than most other health care systems, in line with normal VA historical averages and much lower than the respective 19% and 20% physician and nurse vacancy rates VA saw at times during the Biden Administration."
Still, the 50% year-over-year increase drew sharp responses from critics of the administration.
Mark Takano, D-California, ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said the report “confirms our fears: VA and veterans are worse off under [Secretary] Doug Collins’ leadership. Instead of making VA an employer of choice, Secretary Collins continues to vilify the VA workforce and strip them of their rights. Now, VA is facing critical staffing shortages across the country, leading to decreased access and choice for veterans. Veterans deserve and have earned better.”
“We also know from recent jobs reports that applications to work at the VA are plummeting,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said in a separate statement. “How do skyrocketing staffing shortages and declining applicant pools make it more ‘efficient’ for veterans to access the care and services they deserve? The answer is: they don’t.”
Collins, in a July press release touting workforce reductions at the VA, had said the department “is headed in the right direction—both in terms of staff levels and customer service” while pointing to reforms VA said would improve operational efficiencies. And, on Wednesday, the VA announced it had reduced its backlog of veterans waiting for benefits by 37% and since Jan. 20 processed more claims “in a single year than ever before.”
This past week, the VA terminated collective bargaining agreements with labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of VA workers, including clinical roles, a decision the secretary said would direct VA resources toward “providing top-notch care and service to those who wore the uniform.” The move was condemned by the American Federation of Government Employees, the department’s largest union, as retaliatory for union member opposition to “the illegal, anti-worker and anti-veteran policies of this administration.”
Editor’s note: Fierce Healthcare has reached out to the VA to affirm the department’s reported position on the OIG report.