The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to shift more of its health care workforce to facilities facing a growing veteran population, and draw down staffing levels in places where the veteran population is shrinking. Top VA officials told the Senate VA Committee that its long-awaited agency reorganization plan is about reining in hiring, because workforce growth hasn’t always translated into more appointments for veterans. Goins said the veteran population is growing fastest in states like Tennessee and Arizona, as well as the southeast U.S. more broadly. But he told lawmakers that the VA has “not created a system that ultimately aligns resources” with demand for care. The VA has officially lifted a hiring freeze on its health care workforce, after shedding about 30,000 positions last year.