Dem Lawmaker: VA Secretary's 'Leaked Intention' For Mass Layoffs 'Can't Help But Hurt' Staff Retention

5 months ago

During a House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Herb Conaway (D-NJ) spoke about the proposed layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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00:00The chair now recognizes Mr. Conway for five minutes.

00:04Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:06And I guess before I ask my questions, I can't help but put some more close, if you will, on the statements of our ranking member.

00:18When you hear about the intention, the leaked intention, of the number of employees that the secretary intends to cut from the VA,

00:28it's hard to imagine that anyone who might think about entering a career in public service and working at the VA

00:37would look upon the VA as a place to land and to work and to engage in public service,

00:45taking care of our valuable and hopefully appreciated veterans.

00:50This kind of announcement from the top can't help but hurt the effort to retain frontline health care professionals

01:00and others who are so critical to the operation of that facility.

01:05People obviously need nurses, you need doctors, but you also need someone to make sure that people get food delivered to them.

01:12You need to make sure that you've got a pharmacy that's working.

01:15You need to make sure that the cleaning services are working and that the building and the facility is secure.

01:22And you need people to do all of those jobs and to want to come to work and have that work appreciated.

01:29And it's hard for us on this side of the aisle to hear and to understand these obvious dynamics

01:35with respect to their union rights and their prospects for a career that is both satisfying, rewarding,

01:48and appreciated by their government, by their employees,

01:50that that's not going to have a profound impact on the ability of the VA to do its work

01:57and to honor our commitment to veterans

02:00and that it's not part of a grand plan, as Ranking Member has pointed out, to privatize these services.

02:07And we are seeing this across at least the signs of this

02:11and I think very definite pattern across the federal workforce and the federal government.

02:15I'm a physician myself.

02:17I have worked, I've trained at a VA facility for part of my training.

02:21I served on a military base as a physician there.

02:25And I certainly treated a lot of veterans, even in private practice, after leaving the service.

02:33Because my district is a home of a military base, a joint base McGuire.

02:39And so we have a lot of veterans who live in that area and were patients of mine.

02:42And I understand how important the VA is to them and their ability to use the VA when they need it for their care.

02:52I'm disturbed to hear about what's happening with the physician workforce, the losses there,

02:57and particularly the ability of psychologists and psychiatrists to treat patients because of the attack on remote work.

03:08Just because someone's being seen remotely doesn't mean that anything that's said in the interactions between their physician

03:16and someone who is receiving their care remotely shouldn't be protected.

03:22Their privacy shouldn't be protected there.

03:24And when you consider people now being put in cubicles or putting in spaces where their conversations are not secure and private,

03:32that that impacts the kind of care that they wish to give and how they ought to practice that life-saving care.

03:41As we know, there's so many dislocations with mental health in the service.

03:45So, and I understand, Dr. Elliott, pardon me, that you have an example of a change in this retention policy

03:54and the loss of remote work.

03:57Can you comment on the impact of that situation at Hampton, at the Hampton VA?

04:04At our facility, we have a 43% lack of, well, our recruitment is 43% behind, meaning that out of 100 positions, 43 of them are vacant.

04:27We are in the process now of losing a psychologist to another facility because that particular psychologist lived far away

04:40and could not come to Hampton with no relocation bonus offered.

04:47That psychologist was able to get a relocation bonus from someplace else, and that's where that psychologist is going.

04:55So, I guess instead of being 43% behind the eight ball, we are 44% in a couple of weeks when that psychologist leaves.

05:05Now, to add insult to injury there, even though we know that psychologist is leaving,

05:11we do not recruit, begin recruitment until after the psychologist is gone.

05:18Therefore, all of that psychologist's work is borne by someone else, or patients are rescheduled

05:26and rescheduled and rescheduled until someone comes in to fill that post.

05:34Thank you, Madam Chair.

05:35You'll be back.

05:35I see it's my time.

Dem Lawmaker: VA Secretary's 'Leaked Intention' For Mass Layoffs 'Can't Help But Hurt' Staff Retention

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