An annual audit by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General found a sharp rise in staffing pressures across the Veterans Health Administration. The watchdog tallied 4,434 severe occupational shortages at 139 medical centers—up 50% from fiscal-year 2024—with nearly all facilities citing a lack of doctors and four-fifths reporting nurse shortfalls. Psychologists, police officers and other clinical and non-clinical posts also remained difficult to fill. VA officials disputed the report’s methodology, saying it measures hard-to-recruit occupations rather than actual vacancies. The department put physician and nurse vacancy rates at 14% and 10%, respectively—levels it called consistent with historical averages and below many private-sector systems. Even as workforce strains intensify, the agency said it is handling benefits faster than ever. VA Secretary Doug Collins announced that 2.52 million disability and pension ratings claims had been completed by 8 August—surpassing last year’s total with almost two months left in the fiscal year. The higher throughput, including a record 300,000 claims processed in July, has cut the backlog of pending cases by 37% since President Donald Trump took office. Democratic lawmakers argued that planned workforce reductions and the termination of union contracts risk eroding veterans’ access to care, while the administration maintained that trimming bureaucracy allows resources to be redirected to frontline services. The contrasting messages—record benefits processing alongside widening clinical shortages—underscore the competing metrics by which the agency’s performance is being judged.