Report: DoD faces challenges filling open military doctor, dentist positions

The Department of Defense is facing challenges filling open military doctor and dentist positions, according a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The report said the DoD is having trouble recruiting and keeping enough doctors to care for the troops.

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Part of the problem is that the private sector generally pays more than the DoD and there is a nationwide shortage of doctors and dentists.

For more than two decades, Thomas Zampieri served as a physician assistant in the Army National Guard stationed in the U.S. He is now president of the Blind Veterans Association.

"We cared for large numbers of causalities that came back from Vietnam,” Zampieri said.

Zampieri said like today, there was a shortage of military doctors and dentists back then and he saw the impact firsthand.

"You end up with longer clinic waiting times for appointments and you also end up with delays in scheduling diagnostic procedures,” Zampieri said.

The GAO report said the Army, Navy and Air Force all have gaps in their medical care needs.

"You see it on a regular basis,” Jeremy Butler, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said.

Butler served in the Navy and is now in the Navy Reserves.

He understands the need to have specialists on hand who are trained to handle the needs of troops.

"You need to have those that are frankly experienced operating in those kind of stressful, perhaps under-served areas, where you don’t have the sterile operating rooms, where you have ongoing potentially combat,” Butler said.

The report said the DoD needs to do a better job of keeping track of why doctors and dentists are leaving the military and if the incentives like paying for tuition are working.

In a letter, the DoD said it agreed with the report’s recommendations and is working on making the changes.

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