VA expands Service by opening 25 new clinics…World-Class health care brought closer to more veterans

WASHINGTON (2006) - To provide world-class health care closer
to where more veterans live, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has
announced plans to open 25 new community-based clinics in 17 states and
American Somoa.

"VA has established itself as one of the top health care organizations
in the country," said the Honorable R. James Nicholson, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs. "By putting health care facilities in more
communities, we're enhancing veterans' access to VA's world-class health
care."

With 156 hospitals and more than 700 community-based clinics, the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates the largest integrated
health care system in the country.  VA's health care budget of nearly
$30 billion this year will provide health care to about 5.4 million
people during nearly 600,000 hospitalizations and 55 million outpatient
visits.

"Community-based medicine enhances preventative care, allows for closer
doctor-patient relationships and makes it easier for follow-up for
people with chronic problems," said Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, VA's Under
Secretary for Health.

The new facilities, called community-based outpatient clinics, or CBOCs,
will start becoming operational this year.  Local VA officials will keep
communities and their veterans informed of milestones in the creation of
the new CBOCs.

A list of the new community clinics follows:

VA's Proposed Sites for New Outpatient Clinics
Alabama -- Bessemer
American Samoa
Arizona - Miami-Globe, northwest Tucson, southeast Tucson
California - S. Orange County
Delaware - Dover
Georgia - Athens
Idaho - Canyon County
Iowa - Spirit Lake
Kentucky - Hazard, Florence
Minnesota - Bemidji
Nebraska -- Holdrege
Nevada -- Fallon
North Carolina - Franklin, Hamlet, Hickory
Ohio - Cambridge, Newark
Tennessee - Hamblen
Texas -- Conroe
Virginia - Lynchburg, Norfolk
Wisconsin - Rice Lake