Veterans Affairs Department Cut Thousands of Roles for Doctors and Nurses

The head of the Veterans Affairs Department has repeatedly said that the agency needs to hire more doctors, nurses and other providers “taking care of people on the front line,” even as President Trump seeks to shrink the federal government.
But the V.A. has eliminated thousands of medical positions that were left vacant after a wave of resignations and retirements last year, according to a New York Times analysis of internal agency records that have not previously been reported.
The cuts include empty slots for more than 1,500 physicians and 4,900 nurses. In total, the V.A. chose not to hire replacements for roughly 14,400 unfilled medical vacancies at its health care division. Those jobs were the equivalent of about 5 percent of the V.A.’s medical staff as of December.
While the reductions are smaller than those Mr. Trump has made at other agencies, the V.A. has long struggled to hire medical providers. More than 90 percent of the department’s facilities reported “severe shortages” of doctors last year, according to a 2025 report by the department’s inspector general. Nearly 80 percent reported severe shortages of nurses.
The move to shrink the V.A.’s health care division represents a striking turnaround after years of growth supported by members of both parties. A separate Times analysis of public federal work force data found that in 2025 the total number of doctors and nurses working at the department fell for the first time in at least 20 years.
Peter Kasperowicz, a spokesman for the V.A., said in a statement that the positions being eliminated were “not needed” and that the department was “working much better under President Trump than it did under President Biden.”