According to the American Board of Physician Specialties, there are 1,400 unfilled doctor positions in the nation's VA health system. ... There are clearly some great doctors working at VA hospitals, but there also clearly need to be major improvements across the board.

Does the VA provide good healthcare?

Examining a wide array of commonly used measures of health care quality, researchers found that VA hospitals generally provided better quality care than non-VA hospitals and the VA's outpatient services were better quality when compared to commercial HMOs, Medicaid HMOs and Medicare HMOs.

Do VA doctors get paid less?

The agency based the increases on several salary surveys, which generally showed VA doctors earning less than professors and those in private practice. The average VA primary care physician earns just shy of $178,000 annually, while the surveys found average salaries ranging between $194,000 and $256,000.