VA medical research threatened by federal workforce cuts
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The Trump administration's federal workforce purge may be jeopardizing VA research into suicide prevention, opioid addiction, prosthetics, cancer and other matters.
The big picture: The administration is refusing to extend VA researchers' three-year "Not to Exceed" term limits as is customary, and is instead dismissing staff, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
- Initial guidance had suggested those jobs at VA's Office of Research and Development would be protected, Bloomberg News reported.
Driving the news: About 83% of the roughly 4,600 staff at the VA's ORD are on time-limited appointments, and about 350 researchers are set to be terminated in the coming months when their terms are up, Bloomberg reported.
- At one of the VA Health System's Centers of Innovation, leadership said in an email to research staff on Feb. 12 that seven of their colleagues' appointments had expired that day and that they expected more to come, per Bloomberg.
- Projects affected by the hiring freeze surround mental health, alcohol and opioid withdrawal, cancer treatments, burn pit exposure and prosthetics, Murray said.
A VA spokesperson told Bloomberg that the department is reviewing research projects on a case-by-case basis before deciding whether to extend, renew, or convert existing employees to a new appointment.
Between the lines: The VA was also hit with a second round of layoffs on Monday, bringing the total number of jobs cut within a month to 2,400.
- While the latest layoffs were focused on probationary employees in non-critical roles, at least a dozen Veterans Crisis Line employees were let go, USA Today reported, citing a VA employee and a congressional aide.
- The layoffs, combined with looming researcher terminations, "will have an immediate and detrimental impact on veteran care, patient safety, and the groundbreaking medical research conducted at VA medical centers," six veterans and medical groups warned in a letter to Congress.
- Murray, in a statement, said not keeping researchers "will effectively mean the end of VA research as we know it in red and blue states."
VA Secretary Doug Collins has pushed back against such claims, saying the department safeguarded 300,000 mission-critical positions to ensure uninterrupted services.
What we're watching: If the administration or lawmakers act to rescind the cuts, or exempt workers involved in research or medical care.
