Why doctors are turning down VA job offers

Almost 40% of 2,000 doctors offered jobs at veterans hospitals in the first quarter of this year rejected them. ProPublica reports that many applicants worry that the positions are “not stable and (applicants are) uneasy” because of the overall direction of the agency. ProPublica reviewed hundreds of internal staffing records and conducted interviews with both veterans and employees, noting that patient wait times appear to be increasing. Women veterans are a faster-growing group of patients at the VA than men, and about 930,000 were enrolled in VA health care in 2023. The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to reduce staff by nearly 30,000 by the end of its fiscal year Sept. 30, down from the original 70,000 it announced earlier this year.