{"id":39146,"date":"2023-08-16T14:24:50","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T14:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/08\/16\/va-healthcare-workforce-tops-400000-as-more-hiring-looms\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:10:24","slug":"va-healthcare-workforce-tops-400000-as-more-hiring-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2023\/08\/16\/va-healthcare-workforce-tops-400000-as-more-hiring-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"VA healthcare workforce tops 400,000 as more hiring looms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/04\/21\/va-halts-all-new-work-on-health-records-overhaul\/\" target=\"_blank\">Veterans Health Administration<\/a> this month topped 400,000 employees for the first time with staffing levels pushed higher by months of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/home\/2022\/10\/26\/tldr-simpler-job-ads-pay-incentives-lift-hiring-at-va\/\" target=\"_blank\">aggressive hiring practices<\/a> by federal officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agency leaders say they aren\u2019t finished yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re really proud of these results,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/08\/15\/surge-in-covid-cases-sparks-worries-among-va-leaders\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VA Under Secretary of Health,<\/a> told reporters on Tuesday. \u201cBut we\u2019re not stopping until we reach our external hire goal for this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That goal,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/it-networks\/health-it\/2023\/02\/22\/dept-of-veterans-affairs-ahead-of-health-care-staffing-goals-for-now\/\" target=\"_blank\"> announced by VA administrators<\/a> in late 2022, is 52,000 external hires for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Health leaders have already bought on more than 48,000 individuals so far, including more than 27,000 new hires in high-demand occupations such as physicians, nurses, medical support assistants and housekeeping staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those new employees coupled with stronger-than-expected retention of existing workers have grown the agency \u2014 the largest within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/05\/30\/veterans-program-funding-ends-up-a-winner-in-debt-limit-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\">Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> \u2014 to its highest staffing level ever. Elnahal insisted that the growth is needed to keep up with increasing demands from patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/home\/2022\/10\/26\/tldr-simpler-job-ads-pay-incentives-lift-hiring-at-va\/\" 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=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP17147488608597.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\">TL;DR: Simpler job ads, pay incentives lift hiring at VA<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The department is revamping employment policies to better recruit and retain talent.<\/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\">At least part of that stems from the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/08\/14\/just-hours-left-for-vets-to-apply-for-retroactive-pact-act-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\">better known as the PACT Act<\/a> \u2014 signed into law one year ago. Provisions in that sweeping military toxic exposure benefits legislation have allowed more than 100,000 new veterans to sign up for VA medical care in the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Department officials have projected more than 7.4 million in-house patient visits next fiscal year and nearly 140 million outpatient appointments, both up about 1% from fiscal 2023 levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re going to take a close look at our hiring goals for next year on particular types of staff for which we are short,\u201d Elnahal said. \u201cOur teams now are working to see what our revised goals will be based on trends. But for sure, we will still be on a hiring agenda next fiscal year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA health care chief said that part of that work will also include continuing improvements to the federal hiring process for his agency and bringing on more human resources specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can\u2019t hire enough of them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want as many HR specialists in our system as possible, because that will help reduce times to onboard and hire employees, which is really the main challenge that we\u2019re faced with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congressional appropriators have backed preliminary plans for a $320 billion budget for VA in fiscal 2024, the largest ever. Lawmakers have warned that they\u2019ll scrutinize hiring practices to ensure that department growth makes sense in light of the slow decline in the veteran population in America over the last few decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders say they still need more staff to keep up with patient demands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74196,"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":[101,7,23,12,26,19],"tags":[8476],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-39146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-home","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","tag-veterans-health-administration"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OGZZMCGYNNCEVEHBUFRBESVPZY","arc_canonical_url":"\/newsletters\/daily-brief\/2023\/08\/16\/va-healthcare-workforce-tops-400000-as-more-hiring-looms\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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