50 Largest Veterans Hospitals by Number of Staffed Beds

 Since 1930, the United States has provided medical services for war veterans in the form of Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals. Those qualifying for VA medical care include veterans that served in active military, naval, or air service with an honorable discharge. With so many veterans seeking care, these hospitals prioritize those that incurred a service-related permanent disability, followed by former prisoners of war, purple heart recipients, housebound and catastrophically disabled veterans, and those on VA pensions and Medicaid. This, unfortunately, also can also lead to longer wait times for the "less-priority" veterans.

Let's take a look at some of the largest VA hospitals in the U.S. by bed size:

_{Fig 1 View of VA facilities across the United States, Definitive Healthcare platform, July 2019}

Top 50 VA Hospitals by Number of Staffed Beds

Fig 2 Data from Definitive Healthcare’s hospital & IDN platform, July 2019

In June 2019, the Veterans Community Care Program MISSION ACT went into effect, allowing veterans to seek care at private hospitals or clinics if they encounter wait times of more than 20 days for a primary care appointment or 28 days for a specialty care appointment. They may also qualify if it takes them more than 30 minutes to travel to a Department of Veterans Affairs facility or if they need a service that is not provided by the VA.

For the 4.7 million veterans living in rural areas across the U.S., reaching these VA hospitals can be difficult as they may need to travel great distances between their homes and points of care. Rural veterans may also encounter limited provider choices and a lack of specialty services. Therefore, telehealth is also becoming popular among rural veterans who are now able to access their VA hospitals through 4G mobile connectivity. And, with telehealth providers like Verizon working on developing 5G digital health tools, we will likely see telehealth capabilities continue to grow in the veteran community.

Learn more

Want to learn more about VA hospitals across the U.S.? Definitive Healthcare's Hospitals and IDNs platform includes:

• Executive and department leadership phone numbers, email addresses, and LinkedIn profiles.
• Detailed hospital financial, clinical, and quality metrics (HCAHPS, readmissions, complications, CLABSI, CAUTI, SSI, MRSA).
• Open requests for proposals (RFPs) & certificates of need (CONs) for technology, consulting, construction, and major equipment purchases.
• Data on technology implementations such as EHR solutions, telehealth systems, ePrescribing software and other applications.
• Real-time coverage of executive leadership changes, M&A activity, software implementations, new hospital services, and other developments.