Pay Equity & AI Insights · Task 4G
The platform flags where pay is breaking — and what it would take to fix it.
The insights engine scans every benchmarked occupation's market position, surfaces the ones falling below the market median, and estimates the adjustment to close each gap. Crucially, it separates pay-driven retention risk — where a raise is the lever — from supply-driven shortages, where the pipeline, not the paycheck, is short. A raise won't fix the latter.
Occupations whose VHA pay ÷ market median falls below this cutoff are flagged as below market. Drag to widen or tighten what the engine surfaces.
AI-flagged adjustments
Where pay is breaking — ranked most-lagging first.
Each flagged occupation shows its P10–P90 market range with markers for the VHA-current diamond and the market median, its compa-ratio, the illustrative per-incumbent dollar gap to the median, and the engine's recommendation. Compa-ratio is red below 0.96 — the point at which VHA falls out of the at-market band.
Diagnostic Radiologic Tech
Diagnostic & Laboratory
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $12,110 move (15% under median).
CRNA
Advanced Practice Providers
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $33,590 move (14% under median).
Respiratory Therapist
Allied Health & Therapies
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $10,280 move (13% under median).
Physical Therapist
Allied Health & Therapies
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $12,760 move (12% under median).
Registered Nurse (Staff)
Nursing
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $11,050 move (11% under median).
Physician Assistant
Advanced Practice Providers
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $13,880 move (10% under median).
Nurse Practitioner
Advanced Practice Providers
AI recommendation: Raise toward P50 — pay-driven retention risk. Bringing one incumbent to the market median is an illustrative $8,300 move (6% under median).
Pay vs. supply — don't overpay
The engine separates a pay gap from a pipeline gap.
The VA OIG flagged 4,434 severe occupational shortages in FY2025 (+50% vs FY2024). Not all of them are a money problem. The engine cross-checks each shortage against its market position so the VA spends raise dollars only where pay is actually the lever — and flags where a raise would not help.
Medical Officer
Physicians
VA physician pay trails the private market; the §7431 market-pay panel is the lever.
Nurse
Registered Nurses
VHA base lags the market median; §7451 locality pay is the lever.
Police
VA Police (non-clinical)
Top non-clinical shortage; outside this clinical compensation study.
Psychology
Psychologists
VA pay is competitive — this is a supply / pipeline shortage, not a pay gap.
§7431 Physician market-pay equity
Where VA market pay trails the specialty median most.
For each physician specialty the engine compares VA total market pay against the commercial market median (P50). The widest gaps paired with a High shortage risk are the §7431 compensation-panel priorities — a big gap and a thin pipeline compound each other.
| Specialty | Market median | VA market pay | Gap to median | Shortage risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Orthopedic Surgery | $628K | $520K | −$108K | High shortage |
Cardiology — Invasive | $585K | $488K | −$97K | High shortage |
Gastroenterology | $532K | $455K | −$77K | High shortage |
Radiology — Diagnostic | $485K | $420K | −$65K | High shortage |
Urology | $505K | $442K | −$63K | Moderate shortage |
Anesthesiology | $438K | $392K | −$46K | Moderate shortage |
Oncology / Hematology | $425K | $388K | −$37K | Moderate shortage |
Pulmonology / Critical Care | $395K | $360K | −$35K | Moderate shortage |
Decision-support, not automated pay actions. VHA-current base pay and VA physician market pay are illustrative pending the production VA HR extract (Task 4B) and licensed commercial surveys (SullivanCotter / MGMA / AMGA, Task 1); the P10–P90 market percentiles are real — BLS OEWS 2025 national annual wages. Dollar gaps are shown per representative incumbent, not as an aggregate appropriation. Every flag and recommendation the engine produces is reviewed and signed off by a credentialed compensation analyst before any pay action — human-in-the-loop by design.