The Iowa City Veterans Affairs health system has plans for a future for a community living center and a residential rehabilitation treatment program, which, if approved, would begin in 2026. 

The plans follow recommendations from an Asset and Infrastructure Review report released on March 14 by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. 

Jamie Johnson, the public affairs officer for Iowa City VA, said both projects had been conceived of before the report was released.

Johnson said approval for the two developments would come next spring and both will either be new constructions outside the landlocked Iowa City VA medical campus or collaborations with a partner.

“Maybe that’s the University of Iowa, maybe it’s Mercy, [or] St. Luke’s,” he said. “We’re not sure what that’s going to look like.”

Congress passed the MISSION Act in 2018 under the Trump administration, requiring VA to complete Asset and Infrastructure Review reports to gauge veteran healthcare needs as well as to evaluate VA health care’s infrastructure, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website.

Johnson said that Iowa City VA Medical Center is fortunate not to be recommended to close like some other medical centers across the country, but rather was recommended to add 22 beds over a ten-year period in addition to two new facilities.

Community Living Center

The first recommendation was to establish a community living center because Iowa City veterans typically drive over an hour to the Des Moines center, Johnson said.

“The CLC (Community Living Center) would help us meet short and long-term stay care needs for our population,” he said.

Irene San Roman, a physician at the Iowa City VA Medical Center, said that the center currently sends veterans who need a nursing home either short or long-term to one of nineteen contract nursing home facilities.

“But our goal for the near future is to have our own community living center or our own nursing home,” she said. 

The number of beds such a facility would contain is as of yet unknown, she added.

30-bed Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program

The second recommendation, Johnson said, is for a residential rehabilitation treatment program, which Iowa City currently lacks.

San Roman said Iowa City VA currently sends needful veterans to travel more than an hour to Des Moines to receive their services just as for the Community Living Center. 

Johnson said that traveling to Des Moines sometimes prevents family members of veterans from engaging in their treatment.

10-bed Inpatient Medical Psych Unit

While the Iowa City VA Medical Center already has an in-patient mental health unit, its new medical psych unit will add ten beds for veterans who have not only underlying mental health conditions but an acute medical issue in addition, San Roman said.

“The Med Psych is already in the design,” Johnson said. “I think it’s in the 35 or 40th percentile, so that should be up and running some time long before 2026.”

The med psych unit is not designated for long-term stays, he added.

“There’s a current lack of med psych beds not just here, but in the community as a whole,” he said. “So this specialty unit will provide care to our veterans experiencing acute needs for both medical and mental health simultaneously.”

Home Health Program

In addition to the other three projects, the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission presented other complementary strategies, most of which include telehealth location expansions, which Johnson said Iowa City VA has been working on.

“We have clinics scattered all over Eastern Iowa and into Western Illinois and so patients in those communities can be closer to a hub of care, but we also do telehealth,” he said.

The VA’s reach to areas outside Iowa City will extend further with the home health program, for which San Roman said the Iowa City VA already has a strategic initiative.

“I believe we’re a pilot program for that,” Johnson said. “I don’t know that there’s anyone else doing it.”

San Roman said the program will allow them to serve their home-based primary care veterans at their homes. The program includes certified nursing assistants, light housekeeping, meals, daily activities, and laundry, she said.

“We’re also going to be offering in-home PT (physical therapy) as well as OT (occupational therapy) within fifty miles of Iowa City,” she said.

Johnson said the center intends to add this service sometime before the end of the year.

“We’re going through the process of expansion versus contraction,” he said. “So, we’re fortunate to be in a good situation here to be able to provide the care to our veterans.”