{"id":622,"date":"2025-05-29T05:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T05:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malcomgregoryscott.com\/?page_id=622"},"modified":"2025-05-29T05:52:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T05:52:54","slug":"how-doge-is-undermining-the-vha","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/malcomgregoryscott.com\/?page_id=622","title":{"rendered":"How DOGE is Undermining the VHA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Report to the Veterans Caucus, Democratic Party of Oregon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malcom Gregory Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 16, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veterans Paying the Price in Every State<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is experiencing significant staffing challenges due to recent federal workforce reductions (RIF) initiated by President Donald Trump and overseen by Elon Musk, putative head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). These measures have led to the termination of contracts, many held by companies owned by Service Connected Disabled Veterans (SCDV), the failure to fill already open \u201cmission critical\u201d positions, and the interruption of research projects that are essential to veterans health, affecting wait times, services availability, and quality of services for veterans in every state. Watchdog agencies and veterans organizations now fear that the plan is to disrupt VHA operations through RIF and funding cuts so they can use the inevitable disfunction to justify privatization of large parts of the system. Veterans almost universally oppose such an outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s at Stake Nationwide<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VHA serves 9.1 million veterans with services ranging from primary medical care to highly specialized treatments of conditions unique to or more likely among service members. Studies show the VHA consistently delivers care comparable to private healthcare or better<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VHA employs about 480,000 people, of whom 120,000 to 144,000 are themselves veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VHA awards and administers 90,000 contracts disbursing about 67 billion dollars yearly. In 2023, the agency\u2019s Inspector General found 3.2 billion dollars of that total were \u201cimproper and unknown\u201d payments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VHA, through its affiliations with 1,800 educational institutions including almost every well-accredited medical school in the U.S., provides clinical training for approximately 120,000 health profession trainees annually, including 40,000 physician residents and encompassing over 40 health clinical professions. The VHA trains 1000 psychologists every year. 70% of all doctors practicing in the U.S. received part or all of their training through a VHA facility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VHA\u2019s 170 hospital system is the front lines for innovative medical research, enrolling tens of thousands of veterans into experimental protocols every year, and credited with such breakthroughs as the pacemaker, the nicotine patch, and the use of aspirin to prevent heart attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the Heritage Foundation\u2019s Project 2025 concluded the VA had transformed itself into \u201cone of the most respected US agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s at Stake in Oregon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VHA serves more than 130,000 veteran enrollees in the state of Oregon, employing over 6,000 people at two medical centers with hospitals in Portland and Rosenburg, and more than twenty additional outpatient medical centers. In FY 2023, the last for which data is available, VHA Oregon treated more than 96,000 unique patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 130,000 Oregon veterans enrolled in VHA comprise only half of the more than 266,000 veterans residing in the state. As the population ages, and more veterans enroll under the PACT Act, Oregon\u2019s VHA system will require the capacity and flexibility to accommodate the consequent growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overall resident veteran population is overwhelmingly male, with females accounting for about 11%. A plurality of the overall veteran population (101, 927) served during the Gulf War Era and nearly as many (90,915) served in the Vietnam Era. Age cohorts follow a similar pattern, half being 65 and older (133,480) and nearly as many being between 40 and 64 (96,339). The overall Oregon veteran population represents about 1.7% of veterans nationwide, and Oregon VHA enrollees represent about 1.4% of VHA enrollees nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firings, a Freeze, and a Promise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOGE summarily dismissed more than 1000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the first phase of the RIF targeting probationary employees, many of whom are themselves veterans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exact number of those who had worked at VHA is not available to date, but, from the fact that VHA employs 371,000 of the 412,892 overall VA workforce, more than 89%, we might easily extrapolate that as many as nine in ten of those fired included healthcare professionals, researchers, and support staff working at VHA medical centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hiring freeze has also disrupted VHA workplaces, patient care, and the lives of job candidates already in the pipeline for the thousands of job openings posted by the VHA. In accordance with the PACT Act, VHA facilities everywhere were hiring new staff to accommodate the expansion in services. Now all of those jobs will remain unfilled, making implementation of the new law nearly impossible. Even special job programs geared to placing SCVDs in VHA jobs have ended, with at least one job candidate so far along in the hiring process as to have already relocated when they were told the position was no longer available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VA secretary Doug Collins is now calling for 80,000 additional job cuts while also promising to exempt 300,000 doctors and nurses considered \u201cmission critical\u201d. This would decrease total staffing to 2019 levels of abut 400,000, before the PACT Act expanded benefits to more than a million veterans suffering the consequences of severe exposure to toxins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Predicting how many VHA employees will be fired here in Oregon is difficult, but, assuming loss of 15% of personnel, as is expected system-wide, Oregon might expect to lose as many as 900 of these jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Contractual Chaos, Lost Support Staff, and Interrupted Research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOGE created uncertainty and confusion amid its mass cancellations and partial reinstatements of hundreds of VHA contracts. The VHA originally cancelled 875 contracts but rescinded 290 of those cancellations after considerable staff resistance, public reaction, and congressional pressure. The 290 rescinded contracts were exempted because the contracted services involved direct interaction with VHA patients. Some employees have criticized this distinction, noting that many contracted services that do not<\/em> involve direct interaction with VHA patients may nonetheless be \u201cmission critical\u201d for providing quality services to veterans. The 585 cancelled contracts include agreements for such services as medical supply acquisition, delivery, and inventory tracking, and other services essential to managing clinical operations. Moreover, a large majority of the cancelled contracts appear to be held by businesses owned by SCDV, doubling the harm to veterans caused by the cancellations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOGE\u2019s purge of probationary employees has required some VHA facilities to fire support staff including workers who purchase medical supplies, schedule appointments, and arrange rides for patients to their doctors. The federal hiring freeze has exacerbated the shortage of VHA support staff as many previously open positions for custodial workers, laundry staff, and chaplains will now remain unfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its firing of probationary employees, DOGE also interrupted advanced medical research studies that often require support staff who do not interact with VHA patients. Those affected even included some research support staff only nominally employed by VHA and actually paid by another party involved in the study. The loss of these researchers jeopardizes ongoing studies essential for veteran health, including research focusing on such critical areas as veteran suicide prevention, opioid addiction, cancer, and illnesses related to burn pit exposure. At risk overall are 200 research staff conducting 300 trials and providing treatment to 10,000 veterans. Treatments often include sophisticated new medications for advanced conditions, and experts warn their discontinuation is medically and ethically irresponsible, and may cause direct harm to participating veterans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfilled Positions VHA Oregon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following job openings are currently listed for VHA Oregon. Presumably, listings for frontline medical personnel are exempted from the hiring freeze, but as you see below, many other crucial support positions (marked *) remain open as well. Additionally, the uncertainty the RIF has created among potential candidates for the open positions, just as it has within the VHA, makes these jobs less desirable and makes hiring qualified people more difficult. This list is not exhaustive; positions made vacant by the RIF are not included here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anesthesiologist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Biomedical Equipment Support Systems, IT (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinical Laboratory Scientist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dental Assistant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dentist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diagnostic Radiologic Technician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diagnostic Radiologic Technologist, Computerized Tomography\/Diagnostic and Fluoroscopic <\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Food Service Worker (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Health Technician, Clinical Assistant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Health Technician, Ophthalmology (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Healthcare Engineer (3 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Intermediate Care Technician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licensed Practical Nurse (open continuous announcement)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licensed Practical Nurse, PACT <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licensed Practical Nurse, PAVE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licensed Practical Nurse, Telehealth Clinical Technician (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Materials Handler <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical Instrument Technician, Anesthesia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medical Instrument Technician, Polysomnography (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Medical Records Administrator, Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Medical Supply Technician, Sterile Processing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Medical Support Assistant, Clinical Contact Center, Advanced<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Medical Support Assistant, Office Automation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse (3 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse, Community Care Coordinator <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse, ER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse Manager, Home Based Primary Care<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse Practitioner, Primary Care <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Practice Nurse <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physician, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Pediatrics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physician, Family Practice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nursing Assistant (open continuous announcement) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peer Specialist (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pharmacist, Clinical<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physician, Family Practice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physician, Movement Disorder (part time)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physician Assistant, Primary Care <\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Pipe-fitter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practical Nurse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary Care Physician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychiatrist, Lead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychiatrist <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologist, Staff (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registered Nurse, Nurse Manager<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registered Nurse, Revenue Utilization Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Social Worker, Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary {Program<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Social Worker, Housing Specialist (4 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Social Worker, Senior (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Supervisory Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (2 positions)<\/p>\n\n\n\n