November 3, 2025
“These waivers from the Dole Act will help entice highly skilled physicians to leave lucrative positions in the private sector to serve our nation’s veterans and meet their unique health care needs.”
WASHINGTON – Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins urging him to update Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations to help VA Medical Centers recruit and retain world-class physicians.
“As you know, Section 142 of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (the Dole Act) allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to issue waivers of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) physician pay limitations that are ‘necessary for the recruitment or retention of critical health care personnel.’” wrote the lawmakers.
“These waivers from the Dole Act will help entice highly skilled physicians to leave lucrative positions in the private sector to serve our nation’s veterans and meet their unique healthcare needs,” they continued.
“Unfortunately, this important section of the Dole Act cannot take effect before implementing regulations are issued by the VA. Until then, VA medical centers across the country – including the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio – will be hampered in their ability to recruit and retain the world-class physicians that our veterans deserve,” added the policymakers.
“We fear that a continued delay in issuing these regulations will lead to gradual attrition of VA healthcare providers and undermine the quality of care that our veterans receive,” they wrote.
“As such, we urge you to issue the necessary regulations to implement Section 142 of the Dole Act as soon as possible. The waivers authorized under this provision will give your department the ability to not just stem the flow of physician departures from VA medical centers, but also to reverse that flow by attracting high-quality physicians from the private sector that want to answer the call to care for America’s veterans,” concluded the lawmakers.
Background:
Due to statutory salary caps, the VA can only pay physicians a fraction of what they make in the private sector. This has led to retention and recruitment issues across the VA, including at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland.
Section 142(a) of the Dole Act, signed into law in January 2025, authorized the VA to issue 300 waivers of the statutory salary cap to allow the VA to recruit and retain world-class physicians.
However, Section 142 cannot be implemented until the Secretary issues the necessary regulations and guidance.
The full letter is here.