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Tell The VA To Fix Doctor Recruitment and Retention

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Sponsor: The Veterans Site

The VA already has authority to pay certain doctors more to fill critical gaps. Veterans should not wait while that power goes unused.

Tell The VA To Fix Doctor Recruitment and Retention

Veterans depend on VA doctors for primary care, specialty care, cancer care, mental health support, disability-related treatment, toxic exposure follow-up, and long-term health management. When VA cannot recruit or retain enough doctors, veterans can face longer waits, delayed diagnoses, travel burdens, and reduced access to care.

That is why current concerns about VA doctor recruitment and retention matter. The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member, and other lawmakers have pressed thee VA Secretary to use an existing authority to pay certain doctors above the Department’s $400,000 salary cap.1

According to the lawmakers, the VA Secretary called for new legislation to raise doctor pay, even though VA already has authority under the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act to waive the cap for up to 300 physicians and other critical care providers.12

The Authority Exists But Veterans Still Wait

VA doctors are generally capped at $400,000 per year, and that the Dole Act gave VA authority to issue 300 waivers to recruit or retain staff in critical health care roles.2 Congressional leaders have pressed the VA to begin using these special pay authorities for physicians, podiatrists, optometrists, and dentists.3

This is not only a pay policy question. It is a care access issue. When VA cannot compete for specialists or keep experienced doctors, veterans may wait longer or be pushed into fragmented care outside the VA system.

The VA Office of Inspector General’s fiscal year 2025 staffing review found that VHA facilities reported 4,434 severe occupational staffing shortages, a 50% increase from fiscal year 2024. The same report found all 139 VHA facilities identified staffing shortages, with medical officer shortages among the most widespread.5

VA Must Act Before Shortages Become Care Failures

VA does not need to wait for another law to start addressing the hardest-to-fill doctor roles. The VA Secretary should immediately use the existing waiver authority, publish which specialties and locations face the greatest risk, and explain how VA will recruit and retain doctors in rural, high-demand, and specialty care settings.

The American Psychological Association has also warned that VA workforce shortages threaten veterans’ mental health care, connecting staffing gaps to real access concerns for veterans who need timely support.6 That reinforces the point: workforce policy is patient care policy.

Veterans should not pay the price for bureaucratic delay. VA has the authority. It has the need. Now it must use the tools Congress already provided.

Sign now to urge the VA Secretary to use existing doctor pay waiver authority, publish a recruitment and retention plan, and protect veterans from care delays caused by physician shortages.

More on this issue:

  1. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (8 April 2026), "Blumenthal, Takano & Colleagues Blast VA Secretary for Ignoring Authority to Help Recruit and Retain Doctors."
  2. Eric Katz, Government Executive (9 April 2026), "VA’s failure to use its new authority to boost pay for doctors prompts bipartisan criticism."
  3. Fedweek (13 April 2026), "Capitol Hill Democrats Push VA to Use Special Pay Authorities."
  4. U.S. Senate Committee On Veterans’ Affairs (8 April 2026), "Blumenthal, Takano & Colleagues Blast VA Secretary for Ignoring Authority to Help Recruit and Retain Doctors."
  5. VA Office of Inspector General (12 August 2025), "OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration’s Severe Occupational Staffing Shortages Fiscal Year 2025."
  6. Zara Abrams, American Psychological Association (1 March 2026), "VA workforce shortages threaten veterans’ mental health care."

The Petition

To the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs,

I urge the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately use its existing authority to recruit and retain doctors for hard-to-fill VA health care roles.

Veterans depend on VA doctors for primary care, specialty care, mental health treatment, toxic exposure follow-up, cancer care, disability-related treatment, and long-term health management. When VA cannot recruit or retain enough physicians, veterans can face longer waits, delayed treatment, and reduced access to care.

Congress has already given VA a tool to help address this problem. The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act authorized VA to waive pay caps for up to 300 physicians and other critical health care providers when necessary for recruitment or retention. Lawmakers have publicly pressed VA to use this authority, noting that the department does not need to wait for new legislation before acting.

This authority should be used immediately and transparently. VA should identify the specialties and regions where recruitment and retention failures are most likely to affect veteran care. It should use available pay waivers where needed, especially in rural facilities, hard-to-fill specialties, and locations where veterans face long delays or care shortages.

VA should also publish a clear recruitment and retention plan. That plan should explain how the department will compete for physicians, keep experienced clinicians, reduce avoidable vacancies, and protect access to care for veterans who rely on VA facilities.

The VA Office of Inspector General has documented severe occupational staffing shortages across VHA facilities. These shortages are not abstract administrative concerns. They can affect whether veterans get timely appointments, whether clinics can remain open, and whether veterans receive care inside the VA system they earned.

Veterans should not wait while existing authority goes unused. Please act now to use VA’s pay waiver authority, publish a transparent staffing plan, and protect veterans from care delays caused by doctor shortages.

Sincerely,

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