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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Senators blast Biden administration’s staffing plans for veterans’
health care
By Curt Devine, CNN
Updated:
1:56 PM EDT, Thu April 18, 2024
Source: CNN
The top two senators on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
called the Biden administration’s plan to reduce veterans’ health
care staffing a “mess” that could undercut the timing and quality
of care.
In a letter sent to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough
Monday, Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and Sen. Jerry Moran, a
Kansas Republican, demanded to know why the VA has paused hiring and
planned to cut 10,000 full-time jobs despite veterans across the nation
experiencing long wait times for care.
Their letter, obtained by CNN, called VA’s apparent “zero growth”
policy a “drastic” and “shortsighted” decision. Though the VA
told the committee that critical staff and some others would be exempt,
Tester and Moran wrote that has not been the case.
The letter, which noted that the VA last year underwent a hiring spree
and had a record number of clinical appointments, stated that
congressional staff has heard from VA employees and others that various
VA locations have rescinded job offers for mental health providers and
stalled hiring of housing case managers, among other issues.
“They’re cutting front-line people who see patients in the
clinic,” a VA employee with knowledge of the situation who was not
authorized to speak and feared retaliation told CNN. “They refuse to
put things in writing. … We have no idea why they are making this
move.”
The VA Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, responding to a
question about staffing decisions at a news conference last month, said
the VA’s workforce could be cut by 10,000 positions through
“attrition and voluntary separation.” He added those cuts would
primarily involve positions that “are not directly veteran facing.”
“So, we’re talking about more managerial, programmatic individuals,
supervisory roles that aren’t necessarily over the point of care
directly,” Elnahal said. “And so, we think we have the room to do
that.”
Asked about the senators’ letter, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes
said in a statement that the VA continues to hire in key areas
including mental health care, that there will be “no hiring freeze or
layoffs” and that the agency “has the nationwide staffing we need
to deliver world-class care.”
But the senators’ letter stated that some veterans across the US
continue to face long waits for care and that VA’s own metrics show a
pattern of “meaningful decline” in average wait times for
appointments, including primary, specialty and mental health care.
“It is unclear how VA’s ‘zero growth’ strategy comports with
this reality,” wrote the senators, who expressed concern “that such
a significant shift in policy could not only have long-term impacts on
the Department’s ability to deliver timely, high-quality care but
also negatively impact its ability to recruit and retain health care
professionals.”
Hayes, the VA spokesperson, disputed that, saying average wait times
are either stable or trending down for VA services nationwide.
Asked about staffing issues at a congressional last week, McDonough
said the federal budget has forced “difficult choices,” though he
said the VA is “well positioned to provide care.”
The VA has been in recent news releases greater access to care for
veterans through night and weekend clinics as well as “” in VA
healthcare driven by the PACT Act, which President Joe Biden signed
into law in 2022 and which health care benefits for veterans exposed to
toxic burn pits.
The VA has long been plagued by delays in health care. A decade ago,
the Obama administration’s then-VA secretary, Eric Shinseki,
following revelations of sometimes deadly delays for veterans waiting
for care at VA facilities.
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