VA proposes higher pay for agency’s physicians and dentists
By - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced on Wednesday its proposal for increased pay ranges for VA physicians and dentists. The proposal is for increases of $20,000 to $35,000 annually for physicians and dentists who are providing care for Veterans, according to a VA statement. However, physicians who serve in leadership roles will not receive any changes in pay.
“With more competitive salaries for physicians and dentists, VHA is in position to attract and hire the best and brightest to treat Veterans,” said Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, Interim Under Secretary for Health.
The proposed pay increases are part of VA Secretary Robert McDonald’s nationwide recruitment initiative to hire more clinicians and expand Veterans’ access to care. The VA is committed to hiring more medical professionals across the country to better serve Veterans and ensure they have access to high-quality care, McDonald said.
The VA is taking other steps to improve its new recruiting initiative. The agency plans to work on a new nursing academic partnership, expand a pilot program to bring combat medics and corpsmen in to VA facilities as clinicians and expand the loan repayment program. Moreover, the VA said that it will partner with the Department of Defense Health Affairs, Army, Navy, and Air Force to improve recruitment of recently or soon to be discharged health care professionals. The agency also wants to improve its credentialing process for VA and DoD health care providers.
The increase in pay is an important step forward, according to the head of the largest union representing VA workers, but the VA still needs to tackle troubling retention and retaliation problems.
“VA Secretary Robert McDonald has taken a good first step toward improving veterans’ access to care by proposing to update the pay rates for physicians and dentists, who haven’t seen an increase since October 2009,” American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President J. David Cox Sr. said. “These rate increases will bring the VA closer to the salaries earned by private sector providers, enabling the VA to bolster its recruiting of top-notch providers.”
For example, Cox explained that the VA currently has extremely high turnover rates. More than 20 percent of doctors quit within the first two years of being hired, Cox said, while nearly four in 10 quit within the first five years.
Additionally, there is still the issue of retaliation by VA managers against employees who blow the whistle on mismanagement remains. According to Cox, AFGE members have reported instances of fake peer reviews being used to punish doctors who are seen as troublemakers and are then forced out.
AFGE National VA Council President Alma Lee agreed with Cox’s sentiments.
“A culture of retaliation and retribution permeates the corridors at many of our VA facilities,” Lee said. “Until VA doctors, nurses, and other staff are able to report problems openly without fear of losing their jobs, no amount of additional salary will improve the toxic working conditions at the VA.”
