Doctors for Veterans: Higher Salaries for New Physician Hires Proposed

Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals have had troubles recently, but they still provide a valuable service for veterans needing health care, and there is a significant need to recruit new doctors for veterans.

In celebration of Veterans’ Day this week, the UMHS Endeavour examines how the VA helps veterans, why there is a large primary care shortage at VA hospitals, what types of doctors they recruit and average salaries for physicians that treat the men and women who served their country. We will also explore career opportunities for students at American and Caribbean medical schools.

Salary, Compensation & Training for VA Doctors

VA officials have been advocating a pay raise of an additional $20,000 to $35,000 per year for doctors and dentists, the U.S. military news website Stars and Stripes reported in September.

The VA proposed significant pay increases for doctors and dentists providing care for veterans. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Bob McDonald told Stars and Stripes higher salaries are required since more doctors are needed to “pay competitively” based on “performance and experience” and “keep the new hires from leaving.”

The Stars and Stripes article noted:

• “Competitive salaries are more important than ever for the VA, as the U.S. is in the midst of a doctor shortage that is expected to keep growing, reaching a national shortage of 130,600 doctors by 2025, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.”
• “Medical schools have increased enrollment to meet the demand, but federally funded residency training programs remain in short supply because of a Congressionally mandated cap, according to the association. McDonald recently began a nationwide recruiting campaign in which he is visiting medical schools to tell new doctors why they should consider working for the VA.”

Stars and Stripes said a chart provided by the VA showed that average salaries for such specialties as psychiatry were “in line with private sector salaries,” but specialties ranging from gastroenterology to primary care, orthopedic surgery and anesthesiology ranged from “$20,000 per year less to $165,000 per year less than those outside the VA system.”

Dr. Carolyn Clancy, the interim under secretary for health, is quoted in the paper as saying that higher salaries will allow the VA to “attract and hire the best and brightest to treat veterans.”

The base salary for VA physicians is approximately $200,774, according to Glassdoor.com. However, some websites discuss VA physician jobs at just under $100,000, but such low VA doctor salaries should be a thing of the past soon.

PROPOSED INCREASES FOR VA DOCTORS: VA doctors & dentists haven't had increases since 2009 due to a federal pay freeze, but that will change soon. Image: Courtesy of Vantage Point/Department of Veterans Affairs

VA Physicians & Dentists Haven't Had Pay Increases Since 2009

Pay for VA physicians and dentists has not increased since 2009 because of a federal pay freeze, according to Vantage Point, the blog for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"That may soon change as VA and the Veterans Health Administration look to enhance clinical capacity and expand access to timely care for Veterans across the nation," wrote Reynaldo Leal in a September 17, 2014 Vantage Point blog post.

Vantage Point listed additional steps to attract top doctors besides pay increases, including:

• "Collaborating on a new nursing academic partnership focused on psychiatric and mental health care to build stronger, mutually beneficial relationships between nursing schools and VA facilities."
• "Partnering 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."
• "Expanding a pilot program to bring combat medics and corpsmen in to VA facilities as clinicians
• "Improving the credentialing process for VA and DoD health care providers that will involve sharing credentials to speed up the process."
• "Expanding the loan repayment program, as included in the recently passed Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act."

VA Needs More Primary Care Doctors

An op-ed piece on TheHill.com this summer “The VA Needs More Primary Care Doctors” by Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash) discussed why he introduced the R-DOCS VA Act, “, legislation that will strengthen the Educational Assistance Program.”

“Through the Health Professional Educational Assistance Program, the VA currently provides for loan repayment and scholarships that fund the education and training of a range of health providers,” Representative McDermott wrote. “Unfortunately, Educational Assistance Program benefits are limited and, as currently designed, the program does little to encourage primary care physicians to work at the VA. Furthermore, recent proposals to reform the VA do not go far enough to emphasize training VA doctors who are committed to the practice of primary care medicine.”

He noted the following:

• “The VA is in need of more primary care physicians. Falsified data at the Phoenix VA and wait times for veterans in desperate need of care are the tragic results of this gaping hole in the physician workforce at the VA.”.
• “Recently, the VA estimated that it had about 400 unfilled vacancies for primary care doctors.”

The RDOCS-VA Act is modeled after the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program and will offer scholarships and stipends “covering the full cost of attending medical school in exchange for a five-year commitment to serve as primary care doctors at the VA.”

Opportunities for Med Students at VA Hospitals

Residencies at VA hospitals are often as competitive as anywhere else. Such online sources as The Student Doctor Network talk about shadowing VA physicians if one is considering a career as a doctor for veterans. Consult the various VA resources online and try to speak to other med students and recent graduates about their experiences with VA clinical rotations and residencies at VA hospitals.

VA Residencies and Fellowships. Visit http://www.va.gov/oaa/residencies_fellowships.asp

(Top photo) President Obama Signs Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act Into Law as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and U.S. veterans watch on October 22, 2009. Photo: Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy/Wikimedia Commons 

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