Department of Veterans Affairs eliminates 137 vacant positions at Spokane VA hospital in nationwide effort to ‘streamline operations’

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs is eliminating 137 vacant positions at Spokane’s Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center as part of a nationwide effort to “streamline operations and eliminate waste,” the hospital’s director told staff on Dec. 12.

The Spokesman-Review obtained audio recordings of the meeting and internal documents that detail the downsizing, which will not result in any current employees being terminated. Director Robert Fischer told his staff that every medical center and regional VA office is “facing similar requirements.”

“We are not alone,” Fischer said. “We have not been singled out.”

The 137 vacant positions being cut in Spokane represent 8% of the hospital’s jobs, the director told employees – a smaller share than all but one of the seven VA hospitals in the administrative region that includes Washington, Oregon, Alaska, most of Idaho and small parts of Montana and California. About 100 vacancies remain at the Spokane hospital and its affiliated clinics across the Inland Northwest, he said.

VA spokespeople did not answer questions from The Spokesman-Review about the number of positions eliminated at Mann-Grandstaff, how many of those positions were vacant, how many of the vacancies the VA has been actively trying to fill and other specifics.

Damian McGee, director of the VA’s regional public affairs office in Los Angeles, instead sent a statement saying that Mann-Grandstaff and its clinics in the region are “proud to employ 1,415 people who are dedicated to providing the best possible care and service to Veterans, families, and caregivers.” He added that the VA is currently hiring for “a number of open positions.”

After the Washington Post first reported the nationwide elimination of VA positions on Dec. 13, VA Secretary Doug Collins accused the outlet of spreading “fake news” in a post on X.

Two days later, Collins posted a video in which he accused the Post of claiming that the VA was firing 35,000 workers. The Post’s story, however, reported that the department planned to “abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, mostly unfilled jobs including doctors, nurses and support staff.”

Collins also accused the Post of mischaracterizing an email sent by the director of the VA hospital in San Diego to his employees, suggesting incorrectly that he intended to fill all of the positions. The outlet issued a correction to clarify that the director said he had hoped to fill only some of the positions that were eliminated.

The Spokesman-Review recently collaborated with the Washington Post on an investigation focused on the electronic health record system the VA began testing at Mann-Grandstaff in 2020. The newspapers did not work together on the Dec. 13 article.

In the meeting, Fischer said the computer system – which has hampered the VA employees who use it for more than five years – has been “impactful” on the hospital’s operations and budget deficit, which affects the number of positions VA leaders consider “affordable.” One effect of the system’s adoption has been Mann-Grandstaff sending a growing share of its patients to private-sector clinics and hospitals outside the VA, which is generally more costly to taxpayers than “direct care” provided inside the VA.

“It would be wonderful if we, as an institution, never suffered a deficit, but the problem is – because we’re challenged for many reasons – we send a lot of care to the economy, to the community, and that tends to make our budget negative,” Fischer said in the meeting. “And so we’re constantly trying to expand direct care and lessen our budget deficit, but nevertheless we have a mission to accomplish.”

When The Spokesman-Review reached out to VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz for more details on the move, the department’s chief spokesman in D.C. replied, “We would strongly caution you to avoid repeating the Washington Post’s highly misleading story.”

“No VA employees are being removed, and this will have zero impact on Veteran care,” Kasperowicz said. “VA is simply eliminating about 25,000 open and unfilled positions – mostly COVID-era roles that are no longer necessary. All of these positions are unfilled and most have not been filled for more than a year, underscoring how they are no longer needed. Additionally, all VA medical facilities are continuing to fill vacancies as needed.”

The president of the union that represented many VA employees in Spokane – until the department terminated union contracts in August following an executive order from President Donald Trump – said workers have “more questions than answers” about the eliminated positions, as well as the broader reorganization of the VA health care system the department announced on Monday. Kasperowicz said the reorganization is not related to the positions being eliminated.

“In times of the best of labor relations, unions would have been likely briefed on these initiatives at both national and local levels to some degree,” said Link Miles, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 1641. “Management has the right to make these decisions. However, the impact of the change could be bargained with the unions if we had sufficient information to argue how it may impact working conditions.”

Miles said some employees at Mann-Grandstaff have expressed relief that none of them are losing their jobs as a result of the vacant position cuts, but he called that attitude shortsighted, explaining that the workload of those positions “is still on the backs of those present.”

He said that many of the positions eliminated in Spokane are in behavioral health – a priority for veterans, who experience mental health problems at a higher rate than those who haven’t served in the military – and in the Office of Community Care, where workers are responsible for authorizing private-sector care outside the VA.

“There has been no evidence shared that indicates the decision to not fill vacancies is based on an assessment of decreased workload,” Miles said. “When this scenario is combined with ongoing and even increased dependence on non-VA care, these decreases seem hard to reconcile.”

In a video posted to X on Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who sits on the Senate VA Committee, said she has “never, not once in my life, talked to a veteran who thought the problem with the VA health care system is that it has too many staff.”

“As most people know, the problem is often that there are not enough providers and staff, and that it takes far too long for our veterans to get the basic care they need,” she said. “This administration has already pushed 30,000 people out of VA, and now, Trump and his VA secretary are suggesting the way to help veterans get care is to stop even trying to fill tens of thousands of open positions.”

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate VA Committee, said in a brief interview at the Capitol on Wednesday that he plans to hold a hearing “soon” to get answers from Collins about the workforce changes.

“I am at least told that many of those positions are vacant,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not necessary. Behavioral health is an example where we need more people working, not less.”

In the meeting on Dec. 12, Fischer told employees in Spokane he understood that downsizing the hospital’s organizational chart is “difficult work for everyone,” adding that they will all “have to be creative and flexible.”

“Please don’t lose focus on why we’re here: We’re here to provide the very best health care we can to the veterans entrusted to our care,” the director said. “I never feel I have enough staff, and I’m sympathetic to that, but we can’t take the foot off the pedal. This will be analyzed every year, and so we need to remain productive.”