VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System will slash nearly 10% of its workforce

By MEGAN TROTTER
TribLive

The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System plans to cut nearly 10% of its positions as part of the agency’s effort to reduce its workforce nationwide.

A memo obtained by Trib-Live shows the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System was allotted 4,551 positions out of about 18,000 allocated to the regional service network VISN 4.

The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System falls under VISN 4, which includes nine campuses, 46 outpatient clinics and 16 vet centers across counties in Pennsylvania and Delaware and parts of Ohio, West Virginia, New York and New Jersey, according to the regional service network’s website.

The network serves about 93,000 veterans with a budget of $1.2 billion, according to the network’s 2025 annual report.

The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System’s current headcount is 4,932, according to the memo.

The Washington Post reported that the cuts come after a massive reorganization effort already resulted in the loss of almost 30,000 employees this year.

This month, The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions nationwide, most of which are currently unfilled jobs such as doctors, nurses and support staff, according to the Washington Post.

Senior leaders of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System were alerted of the changes being made to the organizational structure resulting in the reductions on Monday, according to transcripts obtained by TribLive.

“Through this exercise, it was determined that it will be impossible to continue all services with this reduction in headcount,” the internal VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System memo said.

Employees of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System were told they will receive further communications about the cuts throughout the holidays. In-person town halls to discuss the details further are planned for the first week of January, the transcripts obtained by Trib-Live said.

Pittsburgh VA spokeswoman Shelley Nulph called the memo false in an email on Wednesday.

“Not a single person employed at VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System is losing their job,” Nulph said in an email.

Nulph did not answer questions from reporters about whether all of the eliminated positions are vacant, which departments and job types are affected, or what the VA Pittsburgh Health Care Sys- tem’s current staffing levels are and what they will be after the cuts.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, described the planned reductions as part of a “privatization scheme” by the Trump administration and U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas Collins.

“If you’re going to eliminate these health care positions, you’re going to make care worse for veterans. You’re going to drive up wait times, as we’ve already seen across the country,” said Deluzio, co-chair of the Democratic veterans caucus.

Collins’ office did not re spond to an immediate request for comment on Wednesday.

Phil Glover, national vice president of American Federation of Government Employees District 3, and Lori Lydic, president of AFGE Local 2028, did not return messages from TribLive.