Spokane VA Director Warns Budget Trouble Caused by Computer System Is Forcing Staff Cuts

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A projected $35 million budget deficit at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center caused largely by the use of a flawed computer system is forcing the Spokane hospital to reduce its staff, according to an internal email, despite the ongoing effects of the Department of Veterans Affairs' decision to test the system there.

In a May 9 email to supervisors, obtained by The Spokesman-Review, Mann-Grandstaff Director Robert Fischer wrote that the hospital would need to reduce its authorized staffing level by more than 15% because of the projected shortfall. That would mean eliminating the equivalent of 146 filled full-time positions as they become vacant, he said, even as national VA leaders acknowledge the new electronic health record system has reduced the number of veterans each clinician can see.