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VA hospitals are seeing doctor shortage, citing pay, retirement, management for loss

The North Little Rock VA hospital falls under the CAVHS system. She said that in the last year, CAVHS has lost 12 physicians, with eight of them going to different roles in the VA.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - After a Central Arkansas Veteran reached out to THV11, wanting to know why he hasn't able to be seen by a doctor at Fort Roots, 11 Listens looked into it.

Since we originally spoke with the veteran, he says his health deteriorated so much that he had to be put under a doctor's care. While he's happy to be on-the-mend, he's still concerned that other vets aren't getting the care they need.

"I'd say over the last year or so, we've had a little more ebb and flow than usual,” said Dr. DeElla Ray, the Deputy Chief of Staff at Central Arkansas Veteran's Healthcare System

The North Little Rock VA hospital falls under the CAVHS system. She said that in the last year, CAVHS has lost 12 physicians, with eight of them going to different roles in the VA.

"We've had some losses, but in some cases, what we've really just had is a transition of the location of that provider,” Ray said.

This isn't an issue CAVHS is facing alone. According to the Government Accountability Office, there's a nationwide VA doctor shortage, with pay and also management listed as the primary causes.

"An interesting statistic is: the VA's vacancy rate nationally is about 9 percent, compared to the private healthcare sector, it's about 20 percent,” Dr. Ray said. “So overall, we feel like we are doing a really good job at recruitment and retention."

Concerns over the recruitment and retention of physicians were also referenced by the GAO, which reports the VA hires more than 2,800 physicians per-year. CAVHS says they're doing what they can on the recruitment front.

"In the last year, we've brought on 13 providers, and we're scheduled to on-board about six more before the end of the year,” the Ray said finally.

CAVHS says their 48 Patient Aligned Care Teams, which consist of a doctor, nurse, nurse practitioner and a support staff member care for about 1,200 patients each and are operating at about 90 percent capacity.

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