WASHINGTON – Central Florida veterans are a step closer to having a new 134-bed hospital and outpatient clinic on Lake Nona Boulevard in Orlando across from the new University of Central Florida College of Medicine, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced.
Preliminary negotiations have been completed to purchase the site for a full-service VA medical center the Department expects to be operational in 2012. Currently more than 90,000 veterans from the region are enrolled in the VA health care system.
Terms of the agreement for the 65-acre tract were not disclosed, pending formal execution of the agreement by VA and the developers, Tavistock/Lake Nona. A final agreement is expected to be signed soon.
VA hopes to complete its design specifications for the new medical center early next year as site preparation begins, with a construction award made in 2009.
VA estimates 400,000 veterans reside in the service area of the new facility. Currently, enrolled veterans receive health care through six different outpatient clinics in the region.
Approved plans call for construction of modern facilities to provide acute care, complex specialty care and advanced diagnostic services through a hospital, an outpatient clinic, a 118-bed nursing home, and a 60-bed domiciliary. The site will also contain a veterans benefits office that will help veterans to obtain compensation, pensions or other financial benefits earned by military service.
