VA Still Faces Severe Occupational Staffing Shortages: IG Report

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to face staffing shortfalls in critical positions, with the number of reported severe occupational staffing shortages reaching its highest level in seven years.

That’s the finding of a new report from the VA Office of Inspector General, which is required by Congress to report annually on severe staffing shortages within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The report for fiscal year 2026 found that VA had 4,712 severe occupational staffing shortages. Officials at all 139 VHA facilities reported such shortages. Birmingham VA Health Care System in Alabama reported the most shortages, with 148.

Practical Nurse Tops List of Most Widespread Shortages

VHA officials identified severe shortages in 389 occupations.

Practical nurse was the occupation most frequently reported as having a severe shortage, with 59 percent of facilities saying they were short-staffed in that area. That’s up from 50 percent in FY 2025.

The second-most reported area of shortage was psychology, which was reported as a shortage at 58 percent of facilities. That was followed by psychiatry, social work, and nursing assistant.

Of those occupations, only psychiatry improved over the past year, declining from 55 percent to 54 percent of facilities reporting a severe shortage.

Police was the most frequently reported nonclinical shortage occupation, identified by 57 percent of facilities. There were also reported shortages for food service workers, healthcare engineers, custodial workers, and others.

Report Context

The report is based on surveys conducted with VHA officials in March and April and the responses are not verified by the IG. Hence, the watchdog cautioned that the figures reflect how difficult certain jobs are to fill, not a count of unfilled positions.

The report made no recommendations. 

VA Response

VA spokesman Quinn Slaven said the report is not a reliable indicator of the department’s overall staffing situation because it measures hard-to-fill positions rather than actual vacancies.

He told FedWeek that when it comes to staffing VA “continues to outperform most other healthcare organizations” with VA-wide vacancy rates for doctors and nurses at 15 percent and nine percent respectively.

He also said that staffing is hampered by statutory pay caps for physicians and that the VA is looking forward to “working with Congress to address this longstanding pay disparity, which directly harms the recruitment of health care professionals.”