VA clinic on the back-burner?

PHOTO/COURTESY This aerial image, provided courtesy of University of Massachusetts Medical School, shows the location of the proposed VA facility (outlined in yellow) on Belmont Street in Worcester.

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By Emily Micucci

The University of Massachusetts Medical School has declined to comment on a report that a Veterans Administration (VA) health care facility proposed for construction on campus may not come to fruition.

U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, suggested in a Telegram & Gazette article on Tuesday that he continues to support a partnership between UMass Medical School and the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System to expand access to care and reduce wait times at clinics serving veterans in the Central Massachusetts region, despite the fact that the federal government has yet to sign off on the proposal.

The two organizations announced plans last Veterans Day to build a new VA facility on the UMass Medical School campus that would be about four times the size of an existing 25,000-square-foot clinic on Lincoln Street. The proposal was intended to address the need for more primary and specialty care access for veterans and their families. Former Gov. Deval Patrick attended the press conference announcing the plans.

But John Collins, director of the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System, told the T&G it’s unclear whether the facility will be built on the UMass Medical School campus, saying the idea isn’t off the table but that other ideas have been “thrown into the mix” since the announcement was made.

Lisa Larson, a spokeswoman for UMass Medical School, declined comment on Wednesday, saying the medical school has no additional information on the future of the project. John Collins could not be reached Wednesday as his office was closed in recognition of Veterans Day.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, published a blog post in honor of Veterans Day on Wednesday, discussing the need to improve health care access for local veterans. He said his organization is hoping to do that through ongoing population health management initiatives.

“Many of our VA Hospitals are stretched to their limits and despite best efforts; don’t have the capability to reach all of these men and women. Since many are in urban areas, the challenge really lies with the safety net hospital in these cities to develop a plan to help provide care for our homeless veterans. In a very real sense this is what we hope to accomplish through our population health and Accountable Care Organization: reduce the disparity in health care for underserved or vulnerable populations,” Dickson, a former U.S. Army medic, wrote.

When asked to comment on the uncertain fate of the VA project on the medical school campus, Dickson declined, and in a written statement said, “our immediate goal is to work with the VA to expand veterans benefits so they can be seen by our world class doctors in our existing facilities.”

Further details on how that might be done weren’t available Wednesday.