In Letter, Senators Rosen And Cortez Masto Highlight Need For New VA Hospital In Northern Nevada
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), alongside Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), sent a letter to President Biden, urging him to include in his Fiscal Year 2024 budget a request to construct a new Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center in Reno to replace the existing VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System.
In 2012, the VA submitted a request to renovate the existing medical center in order to address infrastructure deficiencies and expand it to include a clinical and research wing. Since then, it has been determined that building a new, state-of-the-art facility to provide high-quality care to Nevada’s veterans would be more cost-effective, and the time to complete construction of a new facility would be significantly shorter than renovating the existing medical center.
“As you develop your Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, we respectfully ask that your budget include a request to replace the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System (VASNHCS) Medical Center located in Reno, Nevada, with a new medical center in a different location,” wrote the Senators. “As members representing a state that is home to nearly 250,000 veterans, ensuring that veterans have access to the best care we can provide is a top priority.”
“… The best solution for veterans is to construct a new state-of-the-art clinical space in Reno to improve patient access to modernized and expanded services and programs,” the Senators’ letter continued. “A 21st-century facility is critical to best serving Nevada’s veterans with lifesaving medical services that are continually in high demand. Reno veterans have been waiting for an updated medical facility since 2012, and it is for the reasons laid out in this letter that we urge that your Fiscal Year 2024 budget include a request to construct a new VA medical center to replace the existing VASNHCS medical center in Reno, Nevada.”
The full letter can be found here.
All 17 counties in Nevada contain areas that are designated as “Health Professional Shortage Areas, making access to quality and reliable care a critical issue. This shortage especially impacts the nearly 100,000 veterans who depend on the services administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities in Northern Nevada.
Senator Rosen has been actively working to ensure the health of our nation’s veterans: from helping to pass historic legislation that extends care coverage to toxin-exposed servicemembers, to pushing to enhance mental health services at VA facilities, to calling for the prevention of health center closures that would impact rural veterans, and introducing legislation to improve veteran suicide prevention efforts at the VA.
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