{"id":30753,"date":"2019-12-19T16:28:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T16:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/19\/as-staff-vacancies-at-va-rise-lawmaker-wants-answers-why\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:56:26","slug":"as-staff-vacancies-at-va-rise-lawmaker-wants-answers-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2019\/12\/19\/as-staff-vacancies-at-va-rise-lawmaker-wants-answers-why\/","title":{"rendered":"As staff vacancies at VA rise, lawmaker wants answers why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite repeated calls from lawmakers to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/21\/as-va-staff-vacancies-rise-union-leaders-blast-administration-officials-for-setting-us-up-to-fail\/\" target=\"_blank\">fill empty positions within the Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>, the number of staff vacancies rose to nearly 50,000 over the last year, according to the latest federal data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now a key Senate Democrat wants to know why the shortfall isn\u2019t being fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a letter to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/11\/07\/even-bigger-budgets-for-va-secretary-offers-his-thoughts-on-department-progress-challenges\/\" target=_blank>VA Secretary Robert Wilkie <\/a>this week, Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee ranking member<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2016\/11\/16\/jon-tester-to-take-over-as-top-democrat-on-senate-veterans-affairs-committee\/\" target=_blank> Jon Tester, D-Mont.<\/a>, said he has \u201cserious concerns\u201d that officials have not found a way to deal with the department\u2019s \u201cpersistent workforce shortage\u201d despite pressure and assistance from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/21\/as-va-staff-vacancies-rise-union-leaders-blast-administration-officials-for-setting-us-up-to-fail\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_7992.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">\u2018Setting us up to fail\u2019 \u2014 VA blasted over unfilled health care positions<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Almost 12 percent of the department&#039;s total jobs are currently unfilled.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI remain consistently frustrated that VA medical facilities, particularly those in rural areas, are dramatically understaffed,\u201d Tester wrote. \u201cI regularly hear from veterans throughout Montana and elsewhere that vacancies and constant turnover negatively impact how quickly they can get appointments, as well as the quality of their relationship with their doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The number of open positions within the department grew to more than 49,000 at the end of fiscal 2019, up about 3,000 from a year earlier. Of those, more than 43,000 are in the Veterans Health Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tester said lawmakers have offered new hiring incentives such as loan repayment and relocation incentives, but have been disappointed with the results thus far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Union officials have also repeatedly attacked VA leaders for the problem, saying that the administration has been more focused on promoting new private-sector health care options for veterans than filling open positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials said they will respond Tester\u2019s letter in private. But in a statement, VA Press Secretary Christina Mandreucci said many of the vacancies can be attributed to \u201cnormal retirements and job changes\u201d and not widespread problems with department hiring practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA\u2019s number of vacancies is a normal part of doing business and is not negatively impacting our ability to provide veterans care,\u201d she said. \u201cThe best indicator of adequate staffing levels is not vacancies, but veteran access to care and health care outcomes. By those standards, VA is doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/31\/new-va-health-care-rules-trump-overreach-or-more-choice-for-vets\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RYW32DW23VCERNJQSYTDCRN7KA.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">New VA health care rules: Trump overreach or more choice for vets?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Debate over how to expand veterans health care choices connects to larger national fights over the role of government and private-sector partnerships.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department\u2019s staff grew nearly 4 percent from the end of fiscal 2018 to the end of fiscal 2019. While the vacancy totals also grew, the vacancy rate remained around 11 percent, which VA leaders have said is in line with most other federal agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mandreucci said that on an annual basis \u201cVA hires more employees than it loses, to replace turnover and keep up with the growth in demand for services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Tester said the department can still do more. He is asking for a better breakdown of the vacancies from VA officials, to include the effectiveness of new recruiting and retention efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVeterans across the country continue to face the effects of an understaffed VA,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt is essential that the department makes full use of the authorities provided by Congress and identify any challenges in implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The number of open positions within the department rose about 3,000 over the last fiscal year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":62453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,93,12,25,67,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3226],"class_list":["post-30753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"F7INCC62EZCVFGUIFHUCZTHOWE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/12\/19\/as-staff-vacancies-at-va-rise-lawmaker-wants-answers-why\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - 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