OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration’s Occupational Staffing Shortages

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a determination of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) occupations with the largest staffing shortages as required by Section 301 of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014. We interpreted “largest staffing shortage” to encompass broader deliberation than simply the number needed to replace or backfill vacant positions. We performed a rules-based analysis on VHA data to identify these occupations. We determined that the five occupations with the “largest staffing shortages” were Medical Officer, Nurse, Physician Assistant, Physical Therapist, and Psychologist. This determination is the first of several OIG determinations on VHA occupational staffing shortages. We plan to incorporate additional data in future OIG determinations to provide more detailed recommendations. We recommended that the Interim Under Secretary for Health continue to develop and implement staffing models for critical need occupations.