Veterans who rely on the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System say care at its North Las Vegas VA Medical Center has become harder to access, with specialty appointments delayed, shifted online, or referred out of state after months of staffing changes. A recent federal inspection cited staff vacancies, aging equipment, and a shrinking pool of community specialists, all of which inspectors said “negatively affected” access to care, while patients and clinicians reported longer waits for services like urology and oncology and growing frustration with scheduling.
OIG inspection found service gaps
The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General described what its team saw during an on-site review from April 29 to May 1, 2025. Inspectors documented staff shortages, infrastructure problems and limited buy-in from community specialty providers across the system.
According to the report, primary care teams were short seven providers, four registered nurses and five licensed practical nurses. To plug the holes, leadership sent more than 2,100 patients in fiscal year 2025 to a VISN Clinical Resource Hub. That stopgap has not erased delays. The OIG found new-patient wait times climbed to about 42.7 days in the first three quarters of fiscal 2025, a rise the report ties to a combination of higher veteran enrollment and ongoing staffing shortfalls.
Local leaders and veterans say demand is rising
Chief of Staff Dr. Ramu Komanduri told inspectors the facility treated more than 243,000 veterans in 2024 and saw enrollments increase the following year, adding more pressure to already tight clinic schedules, according to Nevada Current. Both the OIG report and local coverage note that Southern Nevada leaders pushed to raise payment rates for community care in an effort to lure outside specialists.
Even with better reimbursement on the table, many private providers reportedly declined to sign on, turned off by VA paperwork and administrative requirements. When community care was not available, leaders leaned more heavily on telehealth visits or referrals to other VA facilities, including sites outside Nevada, to keep veterans connected to needed services.
Staffing, morale and facility problems
Local reporting has described a one-two punch of low morale and leadership tensions that staff members say has helped drive turnover. Managers are leaning on temporary hires and internal reassignments while they work to recruit permanent staff, according to KTNV. The station noted the system is approved for about 3,160 positions and that hundreds of hires are in the pipeline, although dozens of key jobs are still vacant…