Nursing industry angles for windfall of VA jobs

The trade group representing nurse practitioners is moving to position its members for a windfall of new jobs expected as part of an overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs’s healthcare system. VA Secretary Robert McDonald announced plans in September to hire tens of thousands of new clinicians as part of a plan to restructure the agency, following a scandal involving lengthy wait times at agency-run healthcare facilities that led to the ouster of his predecessor, Eric Shinseki. The VA is expected to put the plan into effect on Tuesday, which is Veterans Day.