The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it expects an additional 12,000 agency employees to depart by Sept. 30 through normal attrition, early retirements, deferred resignations and a federal hiring freeze.
WHY IT MATTERS
While the VA was considering a reduction in force of 15%, the agency said it no longer needs to do that.
"Since March, we’ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to Veterans," VA Secretary Doug Collins said in the announcement. "As a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction – both in terms of staff levels and customer service."
The agency noted that all mission-critical positions are exempt from the Deferred Resignation Program and the federal government's voluntary early retirement program, and that more than 350,000 of the agency's positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.
While the VA is on track to reduce its workforce by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of the fiscal year, it said reductions will not impact veteran care or benefits.
The agency added that it has achieved a nearly 30% reduction in the disability claims backlog since the start of the year, achieved record processing of disability claims and implemented major reforms to survivor benefits.
Other feathers in the VA's cap include reigniting electronic health record system deployments, ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, phasing out treatment for gender dysphoria and bringing more than 60,000 employees back to the office.
The VA said it continues to pursue centralizing duplicative administrative functions, consolidating 274 separate call centers and bringing all payroll processing under a single system.
THE LARGER TREND
Last month, the VA signed an interagency agreement with the Office of Personnel Management to oversee staff reductions in force of up to 80,000 staff members.
Then, when Cheryl Mason, the nominee to lead the VA Office of Inspector General and a current senior advisor to Collins, went before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee for her recent nomination hearing, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, asked her to investigate nondisclosure agreements VA staff were asked to sign.
"There shouldn't be a nondisclosure agreement on something like how we're going to reorganize the department," he said.
ON THE RECORD
"Our review has resulted in a host of new ideas for better serving veterans that we will continue to pursue," Secretary Collins said in a statement.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
