To improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire and retain physicians and other employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

This bill includes directors of Veterans Integrated Service Networks in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of the Under Secretary for Health.

The bill provides that the pay for medical directors and directors of networks shall consist of base pay and market pay. Market pay shall consist of pay intended to reflect the recruitment and retention needs for the assignment of a particular director.

The requirement that the VA consult with two or more national surveys in making a general determination of market pay for physicians and dentists, or with a panel or board in making such determination for a specific physician or dentist, is eliminated.

The annual determination of VHA staff shortages shall include shortages for five clinical and five non-clinical occupations for each network. (Such determination currently includes the five occupations for which there are the largest VA-wide shortages.)

The bill establishes in the VA an executive management fellowship program to provide eligible employees of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and the VHA with private sector training and experience.

Veterans federal employment preference provisions are amended to: (1) make all retired members of the armed forces preference eligible, (2) provide preference eligible individuals with a senior executive position hiring preference, and (3) make the active duty service criteria 180 cumulative days (rather than 180 consecutive days as currently provided).

The VA may non-competitively appoint a qualified former employee to any VA position within the competitive or excepted service that is one grade higher than the position most recently occupied by the employee.

The VA shall:

• conduct an annual performance plan for each political appointee that is similar to the plan conducted for VA senior executive employees;
• establish a single database that lists each vacant VA position that is critical, difficult to fill, or both;
• prescribe regulations to allow for excepted service appointments of qualifying students and recent graduates leading to career or career conditional employment;
• provide VHA human resources with training on employee recruitment and retention;
• establish a promotional track system for employees who are technical experts to advance without being required to transition to management positions;
• collect information on hiring effectiveness; and
• develop and carry out a standardized exit survey for career and noncareer VA employees and executives who voluntarily separate from the VA.

The Government Accountability Office shall conduct a study of succession planning at: (1) each VA medical facility, and (2) the VBA and the VA National Cemetery Administration.