VA leaders launch search for top benefits, health care leaders

Veterans Affairs leaders on Monday formally launched their search for candidates to oversee department health care issues and benefits delivery, a process which is expected to take several months.

Unlike other leadership positions at VA, which can be nominated by the president based solely on the president’s goals for the posts, candidates for the undersecretary for health and undersecretary for benefits posts must come from recommendations of commissions featuring community advocates, industry experts and previous appointees from the department.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement Monday that VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence will chair both commissions and help find leaders who will continue “implementing a number of reforms to improve VA services for veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”

The undersecretary for health post, held in the Biden administration by Dr. Shereef Elnahal, manages the operation of VA’s 1,300-plus medical care facilities. The Senate-confirmed official also handles guidelines for training and education of VA’s health care professionals and develops contingency health care plans in the event of a national emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, Deputy Undersecretary for Health Steven Lieberman is serving as the department’s acting undersecretary for health.

The undersecretary for benefits post, held in the last administration by Joshua Jacobs, oversees delivery of benefits for roughly 6 million veterans, as well as millions more family members, caregivers and survivors. That includes disability pay, education stipends and the VA home loan program.

Currently, Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Michael Frueh is serving as the acting under secretary for benefits.

Filling the health care post was problematic for President Donald Trump during his first term in office. After elevating Dr. David Shulkin from the role to the VA secretary post, his first administration was unable to settle on a permanent candidate for the medical leadership role, and cycled through a series of temporary leaders for the entire four-year term.

In a statement announcing the new commissions, VA leaders touted their importance in implementing Trump’s second-term agenda. Among the “successful accomplishments and milestones” listed by department leaders were:

• Phasing out gender dysphoria treatment for transgender veterans as a cost-savings move
• Ending telework and remote work policies as an efficiency move
• Ending diversity and inclusion programs at the department as a cost-savings move
• Accelerating deployment of the new electronic health record system, with work set to resume in 2026
• Processing more disability claims so far this fiscal year than ever before

The commission work begins amid Collins’ review of plans to scale back the department’s workforce by more than 17% — about 80,000 workers — in coming months.

Department leaders have said the cuts are needed to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Critics have said the cuts will severely impact medical care delivery and benefits processing.

The commission’s candidate selection process is expected to take several months, and Senate confirmation could take months more if a nominee is chosen.

However, Trump can also reject all of the potential candidates and order the commissions to restart their work if he is unhappy with the results.