Fort Campbell’s Army Hospital in Tennessee has announced that it will open its doors to veteran patients in a new partnership between military and Veterans Affairs medical facilities. This initiative is part of a series of collaborations between the two departments to make healthcare more accessible to veterans.
The VA and local leaders unveiled details of the new arrangement on Friday, which will see VA staff operate in Blanchfield Army Community Hospital offices to provide dental care, women’s health care, intensive care, and pain management services to nearby veterans. The move is expected to serve around 3,000 veterans living in Tennessee and Kentucky.
The VA Deputy Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations, Al Montoya, said 12 more partnerships are being discussed. Department staffers are expected to open doors to new medical offices at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, in the coming weeks. VA officials hope to use the same model to expand options more aggressively to benefit veterans.
This partnership follows a similar initiative announced a few weeks ago at Naval Hospital Pensacola in Florida. VA staff will move into unused military medical space to offer more healthcare options for local veterans. It will help address the growing need for VA medical care, especially with expanding healthcare eligibility through legislation like the PACT Act. However, many VA facilities are aging and require significant upgrades, with the average age of VA hospitals almost 60.
The VA and Defense Department aim to address this issue by identifying and utilizing extra space at Defense Department locations. It will provide a potential solution to those problems, placing care options closer to where many veterans live. VA staff will handle care and appointment issues at the new offices within the military facilities. But in a statement, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez said the arrangement will “help our medical professionals maintain their readiness skills” in some cases.
In addition to this new partnership, the two departments jointly operate the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Illinois, treating active-duty patients, family members, and veterans. They also occupy 176 medical sites nationwide, although most are smaller clinics with limited healthcare options.
The Fort Campbell region in Tennessee is one of the country’s most rapidly growing veteran communities, with more than 21,000 veterans enrolled in department healthcare and another 29,000 veterans eligible. The VA has also planned three new outpatient clinics for the area, which will not be complete until fiscal 2027. The partnership is part of a broader effort to expand healthcare access for veterans and address the country’s aging infrastructure.
READ ALSO: Apply For Food Tax Rebate Starting March 1- Boost Your Savings Today!
