Veterans in Garland, Texas, will soon have another option for receiving health services from the Department of Veterans Affairs: a VA outpatient clinic and specialty care facility at the former Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center, which closed in March 2018 following a drop in patient enrollment.
The 470,000-square-foot facility, donated by Baylor, Scott & White Health, will become part of the VA North Texas Health Care System. Transaction negotiations had been in the works for nearly a year, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition, said Rep. Colin Allred, a Texas Democrat whose congressional district includes Garland.
"This is a huge victory for our veterans and the city of Garland. I am so proud of our North Texas community as everyone involved has rolled up their sleeves to get this much-needed agreement across the finish line," Allred said in a release.
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According to a release from the VA, the facility initially will be outfitted to provide 100 beds for veteran COVID-19 patients, as needed. As of Monday, Dallas County, which encompasses much of Garland, had 2,428 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 60 deaths, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.
"This acquisition demonstrates VA's innovative approach to providing care for veterans, both in this time of crisis and in the future," VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a release.
The acquisition comes as the VA is reviewing its real estate portfolio, part of an ongoing effort to shed outdated or underutilized facilities. Market assessments are underway in 96 regions across the country, reviewing available medical services in each community, the veteran patient populations and the presence of existing VA facilities.
The information is being gathered for a commission that will determine where shortages and surpluses exist and then make recommendations for construction and closures.
VA officials say many facilities are underused or obsolete, while others are overcrowded, especially in southern and western states where veterans have gravitated after military service or as they age.
According to the VA, roughly 63 percent of its hospital beds were filled on any given day before the pandemic.
"We have too many old buildings and too many buildings I can't dispose of. Our veterans deserve new modern facilities," Wilkie said during an interview last October.
The new outpatient clinic in Garland will help serve the rising veteran population in Texas, which VA officials believe will have the highest number of veterans by 2025, followed by Florida, California and North Carolina.
Allred estimated the donation of the Garland Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center will save the VA up to $800 million, the estimated cost of building a new hospital. The facility opened in 1964 as Memorial Hospital and was bought in 1991 by the Baylor medical system.
It was extensively renovated and enlarged in the past 20 years, including an updated and expanded emergency department and renovations that connected the existing hospital with adjacent medical offices.
As of Monday, 5,505 veterans under VA care have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 339 have died in VA medical facilities.
-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
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