In fiscal 2024, most VA hospitals and clinics reported critical shortages of nurses and medical officers, which are physician positions.
The report — based on an annual survey of VA health facilities — also shows signs of improvement since 2023, with staffing shortages easing up slightly in some areas.
Severe shortages in nursing jobs were reported by 82% of health facilities in 2024, which was a 10% decrease from 2023.
In June, the VA reported efforts to address the nursing shortage, including aggressive recruitment that had increased the nursing workforce by 14,000 nurses, according to the agency.
A severe shortage of doctors was reported by 86% of VA hospitals and clinics in 2024. The figure was down 2% from 2023 and 5% since 2018, according to the report.
Shortages of doctors spanned a range of specialties, including anesthesiology, gynecology, pain management, oncology and ophthalmology.
The physician shortage follows a national trend, with the Association of American Medical Colleges projecting a shortage of 86,000 medical doctors by 2036.
Other health care occupations in 2024 with severe vacancies included psychology, with 61% of health facilities reporting a shortage, down from 65% in fiscal 2023.
Psychology has been among the top clinical occupations with severe staffing shortages since 2019, according to the report.
Practical nursing followed at 60%, psychiatry at 47%, nursing assistants at 46% and medical technologists at 45%.
But the audit also found hiring improved slightly among most of those occupations. Fewer VA health facilities reported severe shortages for those occupations compared to last year. Shortages eased by 2% to 5% from 2023.
A total of 28 occupations were identified with severe staffing shortages by at least 20% of VA hospitals and clinics, according to the audit. Of that total, eight were nonclinical jobs.
Among nonclinical occupations, the audit found 59% of VA health facilities reported a severe shortage of custodial workers, followed by medical support assistance at 50%.
Medical support assistance includes workers who handle appointment scheduling, records management and customer service.
Other nonclinical positions with severe worker shortages included police officers with 43% of VA facilities reporting critical problems, followed by food service workers at 37%, and biomedical engineering at 26%.
Overall, the audit found in 2024 that VA health facilities reported a total of 2,959 severe occupational staffing shortages, a 5% decline from 2023.
One facility reported shortages in 97 different occupations while two facilities reported having no severe occupational staffing shortages, according to the audit.
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