VA refuses to release data used to set pay for doctors, dentists

A union representing doctors and dentists in the Veterans Affairs Department is considering legal action after the agency refused to release data used to set their pay.

In April, the Veterans Health Administration denied a January Freedom of Information Act request from the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees. AFGE wants to see the market surveys the agency is using to set new pay ranges for medical workers covered under a 2004 law that removed them from the General Schedule, which is the standard pay system for federal employees.

VHA officials initially said they could not release the market surveys, which were purchased from four survey companies and used to set national base pay, because of copyright restrictions, but an appeal from AFGE is still under consideration in the general counsel's office, a spokeswoman said. The survey companies are being contacted and given a chance to object to the information's disclosure.

Congress changed the rules for paying VA doctors and dentists to attract and retain more of the high-demand employees. The new system includes local, market-sensitive pay and performance components in addition to base salary. Performance standards have not been put into place yet, but local market decisions are in the process of being finalized.

AFGE legislative representative Marilyn Park said secrecy over the surveys, and how they would be used in each location, is disturbing. VHA has not included AFGE in the decision-making process, she said.

"There was no accountability to anybody because they wouldn't say to us, 'This was the data we used to say this is what a radiologist in Newark, New Jersey, should make,' " Park said. "This is not the way to make doctors stay or come to the VA. The message is 'We don't care what you think. We don't want your input. We're going to do this secretly and here's your paycheck.' "

AFGE officials, who were not specific about the type of legal action they might take against the agency, said they were surprised by VA's rebuff because the union collaborated on the initial bill.

"Even though AFGE played a huge part in getting the physicians pay bill passed, the VA has intentionally excluded the union and the VA employees it represents from the process to determine pay rates," AFGE President John Gage said in a statement.

AFGE officials said withholding the survey information, even for a few months, is affecting panels setting local market pay. The panels, which by law must include practicing clinicians not in management positions, should be able to refer to the surveys for help in determining local market pay, according to the union.

"Without the proper information regarding pay, DVA employees are limited in their ability to provide factual and accurate records documenting the true market rates for physicians and dentists in their respective region and area of work," Gage said in a letter to the VA general counsel.

The survey companies used by the VA are the Association of American Medical Colleges, Hospital Healthcare Compensation Services, Sullivan Cotter & Associates and Physician Executive Management Center.