Dallas VA Medical Center (VAMC), the referral center for VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS), has cared for America's military veterans for over half a century. Through its longstanding partnership with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UT Southwestern), it has become a major teaching and medical research center. Dallas VAMC is an 84-acre campus providing multi-specialty outpatient clinics as well as:

• 289-bed acute care medical center
• 90-bed Transitional Care Unit
• 40-bed Domiciliary care unit
• 30-bed Spinal Cord Injury Center
• 39-Bed Telemetry Unit
• 56-bed Psychiatric Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program

In FY 06, Dallas VAMC handled approximately 13,165 admissions and 703,405 outpatient visits and is a tertiary care facility classified as a Clinical Referral Level 3 Facility. It is a teaching hospital, providing a full range of patient care services with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research. Comprehensive health care is provided through primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care in medicine, surgery, mental health and rehabilitation medicine. Innovative clinical services include cardiac surgery, geriatric care, magnetic resonance imaging, women veteran services, interventional chronic pain procedures, EP procedures, and care for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as Spinal Cord Injury Center. The facility has four ICUs, 13 operating rooms, two linear accelerators, and two MRIs. A state of the art cardiac catheterization lab opened February 2006.

The One VA Mall offers one-stop shopping to our customers, including Veterans Canteen Service Retail Store, Blue Bell Ice Cream and Starbucks Coffee service, Café VA and One VA kiosk are also available. The One VA Mall provides service centers for Veterans Benefits Administration, National Cemetery Administration, Texas Veterans Commission, Disabled American Veterans, and Vietnam Veterans of America.

Also on campus is the Energy Center and VA Community Center which includes conference facilities, a Wellness Center and Child Care Center.

Dallas VAMC was also selected as a site for a Fisher House, a two-story, 21-suite ‘home away from home’ for families of hospitalized veterans. Groundbreaking is projected Spring 2007.

Construction of a Geropsych Unit will begin in FY 07 to meet the unique psychiatric and medical needs of seniors.

Dallas VAMC has approximately 3,300 employees, and over 800 volunteers serve in many capacities throughout the facility.

Innovative clinical services include adult day health care, Agent Orange evaluation, Persian Gulf evaluation, women veteran services, cardiac surgery, geriatric care, magnetic resonance imaging, hemodialysis, rehabilitation medicine and care for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Through its strategic partnership with UT Southwestern and Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas VAMC helped train more than 740 medical residents and eight dental residents in FY 06. VANTHCS has affiliation agreements with over 100 agencies and institutions, providing training to approximately 2,000 students.

In 2002, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center relocated its regional Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex School of Pharmacy to Dallas VAMC. The first of its kind in the nation, this affiliation provides a state-of-the-art classroom, group conference rooms and faculty offices for students in pursuit of a Pharm.D. degree. A postgraduate program offers specialized training for Pharmacy residents. Staff physicians and service chiefs also serve as faculty members at UT Southwestern. VANTHCS participates in VA-sponsored nationwide cooperative studies and receives grants from a variety of sources, including VA, National Institutes of Health, and industry sources totaling over $7.5 million.

The Research and Development program supports 85 investigators and 315 active projects in such diverse fields as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, AIDS and Alzheimer's Disease and PTSD. VANTHCS investigators have received recognition for their research endeavors, including one named to the National Academy of Science, and four have received the prestigious Middleton Award, VA's highest award for scientific research.

The Dallas VA Research Corporation was created in 1989 as a private non-profit foundation to support the research mission of VANTHCS.

Regional and National Referral Programs

• VA Center for Health Services Research and Development Open Heart Surgery
• Cardiac Catheterization
• Electrophysiology Cardiac Testing
• Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Program
• National Clozapine Coordinating Center
• Electron Microscopy
• Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Colon Cancer/Colon Polyp Disease Program
• Therapeutic Biliary Endoscopy
• Preservation-Amputation Care and Treatment
• National Toxicology Screening Program
• Central Dental Lab

Helping the Homeless

It is estimated that one-third of America's homeless are veterans. Through its Comprehensive Homeless Center, the first in VA, Dallas VAMC has been a leader in assisting mentally and physically ill homeless veterans rejoin the community as productive citizens.

Sharing Agreements and Revenue Generation

Through sharing agreements with other public and private agencies, Dallas VAMC expands its services without introducing substantial capital spending. VANTHCS has eight Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC) and Primary Care Network (PCN) contracts, including agreements with CRAssociates, Inc., HealthNet Federal Services, and University of North Texas at Fort Worth, utilizing 10 provider sites within its 40-county service area.

With stringent limits on federal spending, Dallas VAMC aggressively pursues opportunities to generate additional revenue to reinvest into patient care for veterans. Examples include providing a broad range of contract services to other agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Prisons, private industry and other health care providers. Dallas VAMC also generates additional revenue through its participation in TriCare, the managed care program sponsored by Department of Defense. In addition, a centrally-funded special resource center, the Central Dental Laboratory (CDL) at Dallas VAMC provides dental laboratory services to VA facilities across the U.S. CDL also generates funds for VANTHCS by supplying contract dental lab services to other VA facilities as well as private sector organizations. The North Texas Dental Lab (NTDL) is a VANTHCS-funded dental lab that provides contract acrylic work. During FY 06, $587,417 was collected based on contracts with CDL and NTDL.