Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It has been a year since critical lapses in care for veterans at Buffalo’s VA Hospital was revealed, resulting in an overhaul of leadership at the hospital and a call from local leaders in Washington for a comprehensive review of the VA's community care practices.
While it appears the issues relating to last year's disturbing findings have been rectified, some lawmakers continue to raise concerns over other issues at VA hospitals across the nation.
Congressman Tim Kennedy (D, NY-26) says staffing shortages across the VA system have been the greatest concern, especially with the federal cuts made by the Trump administration.
"We've been calling for the VA to enhance employment, rather than take it away, but by the tens of thousands, they have gutted employees across this country from our VAs. This is what happens, and what happens at the end of the day when you peel back and fire employees from the VA is that our veterans' healthcare suffers," said Kennedy in an interview with WBEN. "We have to be working to make sure that our veterans, our heroes that have bled for this country and have served this country, get the healthcare that they deserve, which is a world class golden standard of healthcare. And unfortunately, what the Trump administration has done in firing tens of thousands of employees that provide critical care for our veterans is they're hurting the ability for veterans in our community and across this country to get the health care that they deserve."
Kennedy says lawmakers have been demanding answers from the Trump administration from the jump, and feels the Secretary of the VA has not been forthright about the federal cuts.
"First, he came forward and said they were going to cut over 80,000 individuals from employment at the VA. Then they rescinded that, and they said they weren't going to cut essential workers. And now it's up to potentially 30,000 employees that are getting gutted," Kennedy noted. "The bottom line is, there's a staff shortage that needs to be dealt with. This administration needs to reverse course and hire competent health care practitioners to provide vital health care for our heroes, our veterans. Those that have fought for our country, served our country, and many who have bled for our country. They deserve better than what they're getting right now with this administration at the VA."
Kennedy feels the care for veterans is paramount, and if any individual denies that cutting tens of thousands of employees has resulted in a staff shortage that's had a negative impact on veterans health care, it is, in of itself, denialism that shouldn't be.
"I think the facts speak for itself: You need the employees, you need the health care practitioners. I, myself, am one as an occupational therapist. I'm the son of a nurse, I'm a husband of a physical therapist. I come from healthcare, I understand the importance of being able to provide vital healthcare services. You need people to provide that care, and when you gut tens of thousands of people, up to 30,000 people that provide healthcare for our veterans, you are going to see a negative result in the ability for our veterans to get that health care in a staff shortage. That is what has unfortunately happened," Kennedy said.
However, Congressman Nick Langworthy (R, NY-23) says physician and nurse vacancy rates at VA facilities across the nation are at 14% and 10%, respectively, which he notes is far below the 19% and 20% rates seen last year. He says a recent report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a survey of what facilities think are tough jobs to recruit, not a count of real vacancies.
"Our veterans, they truly deserve nothing less than the absolute highest quality care that we can provide them, and I'm going to always fight to ensure that they receive the funding and the support that they need and deserve. We will tolerate nothing less," said Langworthy with WBEN. "What we are seeing is changes in staffing on positions that aren't patient-facing, and that's been the problem with every department of the federal government. We're getting away from the core missions of these departments, and we're eliminating positions that don't take care of the core mission that the taxpayers think that they're investing in. The VA is the best example of that, where we need to make sure we're investing in the positions that take care of veterans, not do the various social engineering projects the federal government, unfortunately, has been in the business of. Those are being eliminated one-by-one."
What bothers Langworthy with the OIG's report is he feels some are using it like a political football, whereas he's seeing positive progress with recruitment in the VA system as a whole.
"Most of the problems that I've heard that are locally tied in are based on the job performance of individual people. It's important that you have strong leadership that's evaluating their employees. That wasn't happening before last August. It was dealt with promptly last August," Langworthy said. "New leadership was brought in, a fresh set of eyes looking at things from a national standard on how do we make sure the Buffalo Community Care Program and Community Referrals is handled in the best possible way. If that backlog has been eliminated, which I've been assured it has been, they've accomplished that mission."
Langworthy has also been pleased with the VA's progress with cleaning up backlogs, and seeing that veterans are getting referred promptly to the healthcare partners in the region they need to go to.
"We have restored accountability to the VA, backlogs are actually down. The VA has processed two-and-a-half million ratings claims as of Aug. 8, which is an all-time high, and it has a 37% reduction in pending claims since Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. So direct discussions that we've had with VA leadership, we are assured that they have the allowance and the means to hire the staff needed to provide the top care that our veterans deserve and that we demand," Langworthy said.
"What happened [in Buffalo] was something that should never happen, where someone doesn't get the referrals they need, and doesn't get the care that they deserve. And those problems have been addressed by the local VA, and I've asked directly with any changes in VA hiring practices, has that led to patients not receiving the care that they deserve? And we certainly haven't heard that from our constituents, which, trust me, would be very vocal if they weren't getting the care that they deserve. But as I talk to the leadership at the Buffalo VA, they assure me that when they have a vacancy they need to fill, they're able to fill it."
A spokesperson from the VA provided the following statement and information to WBEN:
"We haven’t fired anyone, and the 30,000 staff reduction is being done through attrition and voluntary early retirement.
"VA has multiple safeguards in place to ensure these staff reductions do not impact Veteran care or benefits. All VA mission-critical positions are exempt from the DRP and VERA, and more than 350,000 positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.
"Also note how VA is improving under the Trump Administration:
"- VA has opened 16 new health care clinics across the nation since Jan. 20, 2025.
- Average VA health care wait times rose in five of six main areas under Biden. These wait times are now improving in four of six areas under President Trump.
- The backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits increased 24% under Biden and is down more than 37% under the second Trump Administration.
- Since Jan. 20, VA has offered Veterans nearly 1 million appointments outside of normal operating hours. These early-morning, evening, and weekend appointments are giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
- The President’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request would add billions to VA’s budget.
- VA has made it easier and faster for VA-enrolled Veterans to access care from non-VA providers at the department’s expense.
- VA has implemented major reforms to make it easier for survivors to get benefits, after serious problems during the Biden Administration.
- VA is processing record numbers of disability claims, reaching an all-time fiscal-year high of 2.52 million ratings claims for FY25 Aug. 8."