WASHINGTON – Opening five new community clinics, a blind rehabilitation center in Biloxi and transferring services from the Gulfport medical center to the Biloxi medical center are part of a comprehensive plan by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to modernize its nationwide system of health care facilities.
"These changes will provide greater access to care for veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "By strengthening our network of outpatient clinics, we will bring a greater quality of care closer to where most of Mississippi’s veterans live."
About 82,000 of Mississippi’s 245,000 veterans were treated last year in VA's health care facilities, up from 61,000 in 2000. In 2003, VA spent $784 million in Mississippi, an increase from $637 million three years before.
Secretary Principi noted that about 80 percent of the health care provided nationwide by VA is outpatient care. He said the plan would allow the department to provide more of the outpatient care veterans want and use, while building upon VA's expertise in providing highly specialized inpatient care.
The changes are part of a comprehensive plan called CARES, short for "Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services." The secretary’s CARES report can be viewed in its entirety on VA's Web site at http://www.va.gov/CARES.
Principi's announcement includes the following enhancements for health care affecting veterans in Mississippi:
Open five community outpatient clinics in Columbus, McComb, Pontotoc County, Tunica and Greneda;
Consolidate services from the Gulfport Division of the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System to the nearby Biloxi Division. VA will develop a master plan to renovate and modernize the Biloxi campus while closing the Gulfport division. The plan will be completed by September 2004. Existing services will continue at Gulfport until construction is complete and the transfer of patients from Gulfport to Biloxi can be managed effectively;
Establish a new spinal cord injury center in the region;
Establish a blind rehabilitation center in Biloxi; and
Seek expanded sharing with the Keesler Air Force Base as VA realigns the Gulfport campus to Biloxi.
CARES is a plan to modernize and improve VA's health care system. Among the elements of the Secretary’s CARES decision are more than 150 new community based outpatient clinics, potential creation of four new - and expansion of five existing - spinal cord injury centers, two new blind rehabilitation centers, and expansions throughout VA’s healthcare system that will enhance veterans’ access to VA care.
In July 1999, a General Accounting Office study found that VA was diverting a million dollars a day – or $3.6 billion during a decade – from veterans' health care to maintenance on unneeded or unused facilities. At the 475,751-square-foot BiloxiVA facility, for example, approximately 9,548 square feet is vacant and unused.
The average age of VA's more than 4,900 buildings is more than 50 years, and the need to reduce vacant space and unneeded buildings has been the focus of several reports by the General Accounting Office.
This new approach to facility's management means that dollars once wasted on old and vacant buildings can be used to enhance services in the communities where health care is provided.
"CARES modernizes VA’s 74-year-old health care system," said Principi. "I want to emphasize that no veteran will lose health care as a result of CARES, nor will there be any gaps in their health care services."
The CARES plan was reviewed by an independent commission, which received more than 212,000 comments and held 81 site visits to VA and Department of Defense medical facilities, and State Veterans Homes, 38 public hearings and 10 formal meetings. The commission submitted its recommendations to Secretary Principi in mid-February.
