The VA COMPETES Act modifies how the Department of Veterans Affairs compensates physicians, podiatrists, optometrists, and dentists by establishing a "market pay" system based on competitive labor market rates rather than fixed federal pay scales. The bill requires the VA to conduct regular market pay evaluations, notify employees annually of evaluation criteria and results, and allow the Secretary to grant up to 300 waivers of pay limitations to recruit and retain critical healthcare personnel at high-cost locations, with this waiver authority expiring five years after enactment. The legislation also allows the VA to retroactively compensate covered employees from 2006 through 2017 whose compensation was deferred due to annual caps, with such retroactive payments not counted against current-year compensation limits. Implementation of the market pay system begins 180 days after the bill's enactment, and the VA must submit annual reports to Congress detailing market pay evaluations, adjustments made, and the use of waiver authority.
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