The VA Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., is the flagship facility for the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS), which serves over 170,000 veterans in eight counties in southern Arizona and one county in western New Mexico. This 277-bed hospital provides training, primary care and sub-specialty health care for eligible veterans. Programs supported include medicine, surgery, neurology, mental health, geriatrics and advanced rehabilitation.
SAVAHCS is home to the nationally recognized Geriatrics and Rehabilitation Center, designated in 1999 as a VHA national center of excellence for geriatrics evaluation and management. It is the principal affiliate of the UA Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. It has affiliations with 70 academic institutions and trains more than 700 physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied health students a year.
The SAVAHCS Research Service supports 70 principal investigators involved in more than 186 research projects in areas such as diabetes, colon cancer, Valley Fever, bone cancer, the biochemistry of depression, treatment for heart failure and pulmonary diseases such as asthma and emphysema.
The SAVAHCS has increased access for veterans by activating Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in Casa Grande, Green Valley, Safford, Sierra Vista, northwest and southeast Tucson, and Yuma. It also has sharing agreements with Ft. Huachuca and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to provide health-care services for active duty service members. SAVAHCS is a TRICARE and CHAMPVA provider for retirees and eligible family members. Additional sharing agreements exist with Banner – University Medical Center, the Indian Health Service and Tucson Medical Center.
SAVAHCS also was designated as a Polytrauma II Center in January 2006, serving veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).