OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration’s Occupational Staffing Shortages Fiscal Year 2022

Pursuant to the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 (VCQEA), the OIG conducted a review to identify clinical and non-clinical occupations experiencing staffing shortages within Veterans Health Administration (VHA). This is the ninth iteration of the staffing report, and the fifth evaluating facility-level data. The OIG evaluated staffing shortages by surveying VHA facilities, and compared this information to the previous four years. The OIG found that all 139 VHA facilities reported at least one severe occupational staffing shortage. The total number of reported severe shortages was 2,622. Twenty-two occupations were identified as a severe occupational staffing shortage by at least one in five facilities. Every year since 2014, the Medical Officer and Nurse occupations were reported as severe shortages. Practical Nurse was the most frequently identified clinical severe occupational staffing shortage in FY 2022, with 62 percent of facilities reporting this occupation. Custodial Worker was the most frequently reported non-clinical severe occupational shortage in FY 2022, with 69 percent of facilities reported the occupation. Medical Support Assistance was the most frequently reported Hybrid Title 38 severe occupational shortage. In FY 2022, VHA reported twenty-two percent more severe occupational staffing shortages as compared to FY 2021. FY 2022 is the first year since implementation of VCQEA reporting requirements in which the OIG did not observe a yearly decrease in the overall number of severe occupational staffing shortages; it was also the first time that facilities identified more than 90 occupations as severe shortages. The OIG again determined the ongoing need for Custodial Worker and Medical Support Assistance, noting an increase in the number of facilities identifying these occupations as severe shortages. The OIG emphasizes the importance of VHA’s continued assessment of severe occupational staffing shortages given the increases from FY 2021 to FY 2022.