Report Identifies Staffing Shortages At All Wisconsin VA Hospitals

Retired physician Michael Siebers spent 27 years at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Shorewood Hills.

He said the staffing shortages there are now so severe that veterans and cardiovascular surgeons are cleaning the operating rooms, delaying surgeries.

“Morale is terrible,” Siebers told PBS Wisconsin in May. “There are things that are happening that make it harder to deliver good patient care. The pattern of loss of people at the VA is primarily letting go of people who are support staff.”

Siebers said physicians and nurses aren’t being let go, but they are leaving on their own. He estimated that nationwide, 1,700 nurses had taken early deferred retirement and 200 doctors had taken early retirement.

Siebers’ account was confirmed in an August report by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General.

The group has been surveying the nation’s 139 VA facilities for 12 years. This year, 94 percent reported severe occupational staffing shortages for medical officer positions and 79 percent reported severe shortages for nursing positions.

The total number of staffing shortages this year across the country is 4,434, a 50 percent increase from last year, according to the report.

Wisconsin’s three veterans facilities are William S. Middleton Memorial, the Tomah VA Medical Center in Monroe County and the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee. The facilities were short a combined 51 clinical positions and 21 nonclinical positions, according to the report.

Nurses are needed at all of the facilities in Wisconsin.

At Middleton, vacancies also include a medical officer, an anesthesiologist, an orthopedic surgeon, a dentist and dental assistants.

Tomah also needs several doctors, including a medical officer and a psychiatrist.

In Milwaukee, there is a shortage of psychiatrists. That hospital also needs a cardiologist, dermatologist, urologist and hematologist.

In a statement, Pete Kasperowicz, the VA’s press secretary, said the report is “not a reliable indicator of staffing shortages.”

Kasperowicz said vacancy rates for doctors and nurses are 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively, which he said are lower than most other health care systems and in line with “normal VA historical averages.”

The report is based on surveys from late March and early April, taken just weeks after it was reported that the VA had planned to cut 80,000 jobs out of 484,000 nationwide through actions of the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

The VA later reduced the figure to nearly 30,000 jobs to be cut by Sept. 30.

In May, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin released a report on how the cuts to staff and services at VA hospitals and clinics were affecting veterans.

Baldwin held roundtable discussions in Madison, Milwaukee and La Crosse to hear from veterans and VA employees.

During one of those discussions, Yvonne Duesterhoeft, a veterans service officer in Jefferson County, said people were canceling appointments because there are not enough providers.

“I have had more than one say, ‘Well, then I’ll just kill myself,’” Duesterhoeft said. “It’s horrifying.”

In a statement to WPR on Wednesday, Baldwin said service members risk everything for our freedom and accused the Trump administration of turning its back on them.

“This administration is pulling the rug out from under our veterans so they can try to backfill the huge hole they blew in our deficit to give handouts to the wealthiest Americans and huge corporations,” Baldwin wrote. “These dedicated folks that serve at the VA are not just leaving out of the blue — the Trump administration is driving them out and it means longer wait times, calls going unanswered, and veterans not getting the care they deserve.”

In the May interview, Siebers told PBS Wisconsin that veterans are divided about the choices the Trump administration is making. He said a significant number of veterans voted for Trump and believe he is doing the right thing in most cases.

“And there is a group, of course, who are extremely upset about what’s happening,” Siebers said, and pointed to Republican efforts to privatize some VA services. “(The administration’s) goal is to privatize all medical health care for veterans. The new budget for 2026 has a 4 percent increase in the budget for the VA, but it’s largely earmarked to go for care in the community with private providers.”

Listen to the WPR report

Report: Wisconsin VA hospitals face severe staffing shortages was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.