The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to Abruptly Eliminate as many as 35,000 Health Care Positions this Month, mostly Unfilled Jobs including Doctors, Nurses, and Support Staff, according to an Internal Memo, VA Staffers and Congressional Aides. The Cuts come after a Massive Reorganization effort already resulted in the Loss of almost 30,000 Employees in 2025. I have been in the VA since 1974, Air Force Disabled Vet. The VA also cured my Cancer.
Agency Leaders have instructed Managers across the Veterans Health Administration, the Agency’s Health Care arm, to identify Thousands of Openings that can be Canceled. Employees warn that the Contraction will add Pressure to an already Stretched System, contributing to Longer Wait Times for Care. The Decision comes after VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins (R), under Political Pressure from Congress, backed away from a Plan to slash 15% of the Agency’s Workforce through Mass Firings.
Instead, VA Lost almost 30,000 Employees this year from Buyout Offers and Attrition. The Agency hopes that the Cuts will Reduce the Health Care Workforce to as little as 372,000 Employees, a 10% Reduction from 2024. Details of the Cuts came into focus in recent days, the Planned Cuts for Unfilled about 26,400 of its Open Jobs as “mostly covid-era roles that are no longer necessary.”
“The vast majority of these positions have not been filled for more than a year, underscoring how they are no longer needed,” He wrote in response to questions. “This move will have no effect on VA operations or the way the department delivers care to Veterans, as we are simply eliminating open and unfilled positions that are no longer needed.” The Nation’s Largest Government-Run Health Care System has struggled to Fill Vacancies amid a broader National Shortage of Health Care Workers and a Strained Federal Workforce. Job Applications to the Agency have also Fallen 57% from 2024, according to the Agency’s Workforce Report last month.
This Reorganization comes in advance of an expected Announcement next week, that Collins Plans to also Shrink the Network of 18 Regional Offices that Administer the Nation’s VA Hospitals and Medical Centers. Staff at those Regional Offices help determine Policies and Manage Staffing. Collins and Others have been Critical of the Agency’s Top-Heavy Administrative Offices, arguing that Staffing Cuts there will Free-Up more Resources for Health Care.
The Trump (R) Administration has said it wants more Veterans to seek Treatment outside the Government System. Political Appointees at VA and their Allies have also said they favor a Leaner Health Care Workforce, because they think Physicians and other Health Care Providers could be more Productive. Collins stood down from planned Mass Firings in 2025, after a Bipartisan Mix of Lawmakers expressed Concerns about Cuts affecting Patient Care. The Agency said Mission-Critical Positions were Exempted from the Buyouts and Retirement Offers.
Since then, Lawmakers have sought Greater Oversight of the Agency’s Staffing Plans. In the Agreement to Re-Open the Government last month, Lawmakers allocated $133 billion in Discretionary Funding for the VA with Conditions, including that the Agency could Not Reduce Staffing for Suicide Prevention Programs and would Provide Updates on Staffing Counts.
The House also Approved a Measure Thursday, Overturning Trump’s Executive Order Eliminating Union Rights at Federal Agencies, including VA, where the Union had said it was Harder to Protect Jobs without Collective Bargaining. Thomas Dargon Jr., Deputy General Counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which Represents more than 320,000 VA Employees, said the Union has Not been Consulted by the Agency about the Cuts, but has Heard about Concerns from its Members.
“The VA has been chronically understaffed for years, and employees are obviously going to be facing the brunt of any further job cuts or reorganization that results in employees having to do more work with less,” Dargon said. Sharda Fornnarino, a VA Nurse in Colorado and Local Hhead of Her Nurses’Union, said Her Facility continues to Lack the Necessary Staff to keep up with Demand, and She urged Lawmakers to Restore Collective Bargaining, so Nurses could Advocate for Safer Working Conditions. The Measure is Unlikely to Pass the Republican held Senate.
“We’re going to continue to do more with less,” Fornnarino said. “We’re going to continue to be overworked.” Meanwhile, at the VA’s Regional Offices, Leadership is determining which Roles they would need to Cancel, and several Health Care Workers said they had been Warned their Hospitals would be Affected. Regional Leaders were told to Ensure their Organizational Charts are Updated by next week.
In Phoenix, 358 Openings will be Eliminated, including Nurses and Doctors. The Losses will Hit, as they are already Behind in Scheduling Doctors Appointments. “They specifically said no department would be spared,” She said. In another Mountain West Hospital, Health Care Workers were told at a Town Hall last week, that No current Employees would Lose their Jobs, though if anyone Leaves, they would need to determine whether they could Keep those Jobs.
The Bad News arrived last Friday for Employees of the VA San Diego Health Care system, in an Exclamation Mark-Filled Email from Director Frank Pearson. He wrote that he’d been Expecting this year to fill 734 Job Vacancies with New Nurses, Doctors, and other Staff, to Help Care for the almost 90,000 Veterans that the San Diego System regularly Serves. But sometime this Fall, He wrote, Higher-Ups Decided to “do some housekeeping and cleanup of the books”, informing the San Diego System that it only had the Budget to Retain 4,429 Employees going into Fiscal 2026.
That meant, Pearson wrote in Bold, All-Caps, Underlined Letters, that “322 VACANT POSITIONS need to be eliminated.” One of the VA Employees who received the email said that, in the Mental Health Section alone, there were 78 Open Positions as of this month, about Half will now go Away. Currently, the Employee noted, Veterans in the San Diego area are Waiting between 60 and 90 Days to Access VA Mental Health Services.
Staff are already Strained and Exhausted after a difficult 2025, and were Counting on Reinforcements. “We are all doing the work of others to compensate,” She said. “The idea that relief isn’t coming is really, really disappointing.”
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