1. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Career Opportunities for Separating DoD Health Professionals
James Marfield, MBA
Acting Associate Director, VHA Physician Recruitment
National Healthcare Recruitment Service (NHRS)
Workforce Management and Consulting (WMC)
November 2017

2. VHA Employer Statistics
Largest integrated health system in the U.S.
1,243 health care facilities, including 170 medical centers and 1,063 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity
$55.3B healthcare budget and 9 million Veterans served in FY17
Over 290,000 healthcare FTE
including 20,000+ physicians and
over 57,000+ nurses

3. VA Employment Benefits
Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS)
Military Deposit or “buy back”
Defined benefit plan (pension)
Thrift Savings Plan with up to
5% in employer contributions
Work/Life Balance
49 – 54 Days paid time off per year: 26 days AL, 13 days SL, 10 federal holidays, 5 days’ CME time (eligibility rules apply)
Insurance:
Health, term life, dental, vision, FSAs, long-term care

4. VA Employment Benefits Con’t.
Physician and dentist salaries are market-based and determined during Physician Compensation Panel process *
Based on credentials, local labor market and other factors
Regular salary increases: annual cost of living, biennial longevity, biennial market pay reviews
Salaries (grade and step) for non-physician healthcare providers determined during Professional Standards Boards (PSB) *
Starting salary based on experience and level of practice
PSBs comprised of SMEs within same occupation
Based on locality pay scales and regional special salary rates
* Will eventually be replaced with leaner process involving HR and hiring manager

5. The VA Practice One license from any U.S. state or territory
More time with patients
Fewer administrative headaches vs. private practice
Academics, research and collegiality
Teamwork, internal support, and fiscally stable
Opportunity to continue serving American Heroes!

6. VA Mission Critical Occupations
James

7. VA Hiring Process The most commonly used hiring
authorities for clinical occupations
are Title 38 and Hybrid Title 38
These hiring authorities allow
non-competitive recruitment
( announcement not required)
Veterans Preference:
Title 38: Veterans are given preference when “qualifications of candidates are approximately equal”
Hybrid Title 38: Similar to Title 5 (exemptions: OIG Top 5 Critical Shortage Occupations)

8. VA Hiring Process Tips DO start your VA job search once you
are within 6-9 months of your military separation
DO network with VA National Healthcare Recruitment Consultants
DO build a profile at and establish a “job search agent” so you are notified when positions are announced matching your criteria

9. Ideas on Improving DoD – VA Hiring
IN PROCESS: Active collaboration between DoD and VA – transitioning military data being provided from DoD to VA
Engagement with VA National Healthcare Recruitment Consultants 6 – 12 months out from military separation (
Formal naming of DoD-VA healthcare recruitment campaign, i.e. “Healing Heroes on the Homefront”
Permissive TDY to transitioning physicians to shadow at a VAMC
Integrated matching platform/database