Primary care teams at Hampton VA Medical Center are operating above capacity as they work to keep up with growing veteran enrollment — leaving staff overburdened and struggling with burnout, according to a recent federal watchdog report.
Facility leaders set the number of patients assigned to a care team at 110% capacity in early 2024 to keep up with demand, according to a March facility inspection report from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Of its 55 primary care teams, Hampton VA Medical Center has seven vacant positions, including several nurses and a provider.
The OIG report underscores the degree to which medical teams at the Hampton VA rely on the opening of two outpatient clinics in Chesapeake to offset the workload. The report noted workers expressing optimism that these new facilities could help ease primary care staff burden and alleviate fatigue and burnout.
However, one of those facilities is expected to open later this month with roughly a quarter of the staff needed to operate at full capacity. The North Battlefield VA Outpatient Clinic will open April 17 with a staff of at least 155 people, 10 primary care teams, two mental health teams, a lab and a pharmacy, according to VA spokesperson Pete Kasperowicz. He said this was just the first phase in staffing the clinic and the VA is still recruiting for hundreds of other positions with the goal to employ 540 people by January.
However, when the Hampton VA’s Associate Director for Operations was interviewed by the OIG, they believed the North Battlefield clinic would initially have 20 primary care teams, according to the report. The OIG declined to provide additional comment on the report.
Hampton VA spokesperson John Rogers said in an emailed statement the new projects will help increase veterans’ access to care across the region.
“To better serve local veterans, we are opening the new North Battlefield VA Outpatient Clinic on April 17 as well as the Western Branch Community Based Outpatient Clinic in 2026,” Rogers said. “These new locations are part of a strategic growth plan to expand care delivery throughout Hampton Roads.”
Hampton VA Medical Center provides care for 69,000 patients across its units, but the hospital is feeling the strain. It is one of the country’s fastest-growing VA health care systems. There are more than 300,000 veterans across the region, and the Medical Center expects a 10-year enrollee growth of roughly 23%.
The report found veteran primary care had increased 7% from the 2021 fiscal year to 2023. To meet demand, the center began offering weekend clinics, but the report said staff volunteer to work overtime to cover those shifts. From the end of the 2023 fiscal year to mid-2024, primary care wait times had fallen by 12 days to 30 days.
This comes as the medical center has experienced top leadership turnover, with the director, chief of staff and chief of surgery all replaced last summer on the heels of two critical investigations that identified issues at the facility. Further, 12 workers were fired from the Medical Center last month as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s mass cuts to federal employees.
Rogers added the Hampton VA Medical Center is navigating the same hiring challenges as many others across the country and is working with other agencies to pursue aggressive recruitment efforts, including job fairs, incentives and targeted campaigns to fill vacant positions.
“Like all other health care organizations across the country, VA Hampton Health Care System is navigating a nationwide shortage of nursing and primary care professionals,” Rogers said. “Additionally, we collaborate with a large network of community providers to ensure veterans receive timely health care when and where it’s convenient for them.”
As part of the OIG report, the Health Care for Homeless Veterans program also was reviewed. The program coordinator said staff had challenges with community outreach due to the facility’s expansive service area, which stretches into North Carolina.
The OIG recommended in its report facility leaders increase hiring efforts for the vacant social work positions in the Housing and Urban Development–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, and in the interim, provide staff to support program enrollment to support staff.
© American Military News
