The department hires more than 54,000 employees to sustain healthcare needs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health officials announced they exceeded their fiscal 2023 hiring target of 52,000 new employees, having hired over 54,000 individuals as of the beginning of this month. The positions include physicians, nurses, schedulers, food service workers, and housekeepers. This brings the total workforce of the Veterans Health Administration to more than 400,000, a six percent increase from the previous fiscal year.
VA officials expect this increase in staff to prevent clinician burnout and maintain high-quality service for veterans seeking medical care. VA officials are committed to further hiring in fiscal 2024, projecting a rise in-patient visits and outpatient appointments due to new benefits offered through the PACT Act.
VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal expressed a need to streamline the onboarding process for new hires, which currently takes an average of 160 days from initial contact with applicants to them start working.
“Having more end strength means that the workload is distributed more evenly,” Under Secretary Elnahal said. “So hiring has so many positive spillover effects to include job satisfaction and hopefully maintaining our lower-than-normal departure rate.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Secretary Denis McDonough as he heads the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- For Under Secretary of Health Shereef Elnahal as he oversees the Veterans Health Administration.
- For the many veterans who suffer from the effects of toxic exposure and seek healthcare under the PACT Act.
Sources: Military Times, Federal Times
