“Discrepancies in staffing and vacancy reports in the Department of Veterans Affairs continue to hamper transparency of employee data in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). This lack of transparency is leading to questions about the reliability of employee data within an agency that has seen consistent staffing shortages in recent years.”
“A report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General found that the number of vacancies documented in HR Smart — VA’s human resources information system that manages personnel records for more than 370,000 VA employees — differed from the actual number of vacancies within the agency. Meanwhile, the IG says more than 90% of VA vacancies were in VHA.”
“The IG indicated a 1.3% discrepancy between the authorized number of VHA positions and the number recorded in HR Smart from February 2020 through March 2021. Some VA medical facilities recorded counts in HR Smart that were either overstated by as much as 20.7%, or understated by as much as 23.9%.”
“This is the third report to come out of Section 505 of the VA Mission Act of 2018, which requires the IG release reviews every year on how VA position data is collected and published. The legislation spawned from reports in the past six years of VHA staffing shortages among physicians, nurses, custodial workers, police officers, practical nurses and general engineers.”
“VA, however, has worked toward fixing its data collection issues in recent years. An August 2020 memo mandated that local offices review their HR Smart data to reclassify vacant or approved positions. The measure amounted to a 41% decrease in the VA’s count of vacant positions for its October 2020 data release.”
“But this most recent report points out that there’s room for further improvement…” Read the full article here.
Source: Data integrity remains an issue for VA, despite improvements – By Jonathan Tercasio, June 14, 2021. Federal News Network.
