Approximately 37,000 Gulf Coast-area veterans in Florida will now have access to surgical care thanks to a partnership between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Under the new agreement announced Thursday, veterans will now be able to receive same-day, outpatient surgical care at a new VA clinic in Naval Hospital Pensacola – a local DOD medical facility.
“This partnership will help VA provide more care, more quickly, to more Gulf Coast veterans, as close to their homes as possible,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal in a statement. “Establishing partnerships like this is an efficient and often cost-effective method for VA to increase veteran access to care, while helping to modernize the veteran health care experience. We are proud to work with DoD to better serve our nation’s heroes.”
The partnership allows veterans in the Gulf Coast region to receive ambulatory surgical care from VA clinicians, who will be stationed at the new VA clinic in Naval Hospital Pensacola.
Previously, local veterans traveled to Biloxi VA Medical Center in Mississippi for these surgical procedures or received their care from community providers. Local veterans will not have to change their normal processes to access care. VA will schedule their surgical procedures at the new clinic as appropriate.
“As a veteran who has received numerous surgeries with VA‘s assistance and has traveled far and wide for pre- and post-op appointments after surgeries, it would have been easier if it could’ve been done closer to home. Not only for me, but for my family,” said Gulf Coast-area veteran Lori Milkeris.
The first local veterans are receiving care at Naval Hospital Pensacola this week.
“Partnering with the local DOD hospital increases veteran access to VA care, helping us meet the needs of the growing number of veterans in our area who entrust VA with their health care,” said Dr. Stephanie Repasky, director of the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System.
VA plans to expand surgery access for veterans at the DoD facility, adding services such as orthopedics; ear, nose, and throat; podiatry; ophthalmology; and urology in the future.
In addition to expanding partnerships with DOD, VA has recently reached agreements with Stanford University to build a cancer and research center and with Penn Medicine to expand healthcare access in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The partnerships were all made possible under the PACT Act, the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in generations.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.