WASHINGTON – Eight new community clinics will open in Arkansas as part of a comprehensive plan by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to modernize its nationwide system of health care facilities.
"These changes will provide greater access to care for veterans," said VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi. "By strengthening our network of outpatient clinics, we will bring a greater quality of care closer to where most of Arkansas’ veterans live."
About 93,000 of Arkansas’ 277,000 veterans were treated last year in VA's health care facilities, up from 62,000 in 2000. In 2003, VA spent $955 million in Arkansas, an increase from $728 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 enable the department to enhance its ability 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 included opening eight new community based outpatient clinics in Mena, Searcy, Conway, Pine Bluff, Russellville, Ozark, Wynne and Phillips County by 2012.
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 health care 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. 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.
CARES was developed to identify the infrastructure VA will need to care for veterans in the 21st century, redirecting resources from unneeded buildings to veterans' care. Savings from CARES will be retained locally and used locally to strengthen health care services for local veterans.
"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.
