Staffing shortages at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have surged to unprecedented levels, according to a new watchdog report released on August 12, 2025, by the VA's Office of Inspector General (OIG). The report paints a stark picture of a health system stretched thin, with more than 4,400 severe staffing shortages identified across Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities—a 50% leap from last year's 2,959 shortages. Every one of the 139 VHA facilities surveyed reported at least some gaps, and many flagged dozens of critical roles as hard to fill.
The OIG found that at least 20% of VHA facilities reported severe shortages in over 40 different occupations, marking the highest number of occupations affected since the inspector general began collecting facility-level data in 2018. The VA Long Beach Healthcare System in California stood out with the most shortages—153 in total, 116 of which were clinical positions. On the nonclinical side, the Minneapolis VA Health Care System led with 52 shortage occupations.
Medical officer roles, including physicians, remain a stubborn challenge: 94% of facilities reported severe shortages in these positions, while 79% flagged nurses as critically understaffed. Both roles have been on the OIG’s severe shortage list every year since 2014, despite the VA having special authority to make noncompetitive hires in these fields. Psychologists were the most commonly cited clinical shortage, with 57% of facilities struggling to fill these roles. On the nonclinical front, 58% of facilities identified police officers as a severe shortage, a rate higher than any other nonclinical job, followed closely by custodial workers.
According to the OIG, this year saw 41 different occupations flagged as severe shortages by at least 20% of VA facilities—the highest number since tracking began. The report stopped short of analyzing why the shortages have grown so sharply but noted that the data, collected in March and April 2025, does not fully reflect the impact of the federal Deferred Resignation Program or the latest wave of departures under the Trump administration’s buyout offer. As a result, the true scope of the crisis may be even greater than the figures suggest.
VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz pushed back on the report’s findings, telling the Washington Examiner that the OIG’s list is “not a reliable indicator of staffing shortages” because it reflects facilities’ subjective assessments of hard-to-fill jobs rather than actual vacancy numbers. “The report simply lists occupations facilities feel are difficult for which to recruit and retain, so the results are completely subjective, not standardized and unreliable,” Kasperowicz said.
Kasperowicz provided additional context, stating that the VA’s current vacancy rate is 14% for doctors and 10% for nurses—numbers that, he argued, are lower than vacancy rates in most private health care systems and well below the 19% and 20% rates seen at times during the Biden administration. “VA wait times and backlogs got worse under President Biden and are getting better under President Trump,” Kasperowicz asserted, pointing to a 37% drop in the benefits backlog since January, shorter waits for care in most major categories, the opening of 16 new clinics, nearly 1 million appointments offered outside normal hours, $800 million in facility upgrades, and record disability claims processing in 2025.
Yet, the OIG’s report and the numbers behind it have set off alarm bells among lawmakers and veterans’ advocates. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the report “confirms what we’ve warned for months—this Administration is driving dedicated VA employees to the private sector at untenable rates.” Blumenthal added, “Staffing shortages at the department are getting significantly worse, including critical veterans’ health care positions and essential jobs that keep VA facilities running.”
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, echoed those concerns. “This report confirms our fears: VA and veterans are worse off under Doug Collins’s leadership. Instead of making VA an employer of choice, he has vilified the workforce and stripped them of their rights, leaving critical shortages that limit veterans’ access to care,” Takano said.
The VA, meanwhile, is grappling with a dramatic slowdown in hiring. The department’s own workforce dashboard shows a 45% decrease in job applications between fiscal years 2024 and 2025, and a 56% reduction in new employees starting jobs. More broadly, the VA is on track to shed nearly 30,000 employees through attrition by the end of fiscal year 2025. Department officials insist these positions are mostly administrative roles and do not intend to refill them once employees leave. The VA has also backed away from earlier plans for a department-wide reduction-in-force that would have cut more than 80,000 positions, opting instead for a more targeted approach to downsizing.
VA Secretary Doug Collins, who has previously described the agency as weighed down by inefficiency, has defended the staff reductions. “We are the same as every other healthcare system,” Collins told senators during a May hearing. “We are struggling to recruit doctors, nurses, and others just as anybody else.” Collins has repeatedly maintained that the ongoing staff reductions will not impact veteran care or benefits. “The staff reductions will not impact veteran care or benefits,” Collins stated.
Despite these assurances, the OIG noted that its report does not fully capture the impact of employees leaving under the Deferred Resignation Program or the department’s plans to reduce staffing through attrition. The report offered no formal recommendations but urged VA leaders to use the findings to guide hiring and retention strategies, and to follow through on fixes outlined in previous reviews of VA staffing models.
Some small improvements were noted in the report. While psychology positions remained the most common clinical shortage, six fewer facilities reported gaps in this area compared to last year. Among nonclinical roles, police officers overtook custodial workers as the most frequently cited shortage. However, these modest gains were dwarfed by the scale of shortages elsewhere and the overall upward trend.
The VA saw record turnover among its health care workforce at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that has proven difficult to reverse. The department is also bringing fewer employees on board, and the shrinking pool of applicants only compounds the challenge. The OIG’s data, collected before the latest wave of buyouts and retirements, suggests the full brunt of these shortages may not be felt until later in the year.
With nearly every corner of the VA’s sprawling health system affected, the stakes are high—not just for the agency, but for the millions of veterans who depend on its services. As the debate over the best path forward continues, all eyes remain on whether the VA can stem the tide of departures and rebuild the ranks needed to deliver on its promise to those who served.