This story, part of a series of investigative reporting projects by Military.com on service member and veteran health, was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
The Department of Veterans Affairs needed staff. A lot of staff. And a lot more psychiatrists.
In the wake of the largest expansion of veterans benefits in a generation after the signing of the PACT Act in 2022, more than 700,000 veterans had newly enrolled in VA health care, including more than 150,000 who were freshly eligible because of the law and now asking for medical support.
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To handle that influx of new patients, the VA’s Veterans Health Administration hired nearly 62,000 new employees in 2023. That included bringing on 340 psychiatrists, the second biggest category of physician hires behind only primary care doctors, according to data obtained by Military.com through a public records request.
Psychiatry has long been known as a critical shortage in VA staffing. Professional associations have urged the VA to beef up its psychiatry staff for more than a decade, and a government watchdog report last year said 73 VA facilities face a “severe shortage” of psychiatrists.
About half of the new hires at the VHA, according to the data obtained by Military.com, were in the so-called “big seven” occupations of physician, registered nurse, practical nurse, nursing assistant,…
