WASHINGTON, D.C. — Contractors will begin the initial construction phase of a stand-alone, 200-bed veteran’s hospital in Aurora within the next 90 days, Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs Eric Shinseki announced this morning in Washington.
The decision ends the uncertainty that has swirled around the project for nearly a decade, as the originally-conceived $1.1 billion hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus fell victim to a swamp of budget issues and shifting bureaucratic priorities.
Shinseki said that new hospital — which will be slightly smaller than the original 240-bed plan — will be finished by 2013, but he gave no estimate of the total cost of construction, the major phase of which will begin next year.
He said the facility also will include a state-of-the-art spinal cord injury center with 30 beds.
“I know after 10 long years, this is an exciting announcement for you, but I will tell you after 8 short weeks, it’s an exciting announcement for me, also,” Shinseki told members of the state’s congressional delegation after briefing them on the decision in Washington early this morning.
Shinseki also announced several other new initiatives to expand access to medical care for veterans living in the Rocky Mountain West.
They include two new health care centers – one in Colorado Springs and one in Billings – as well as eight new rural health care sites throughout the region.
“Approximately 92 percent of Colorado veterans will be within one hour of VA primary care and 81 percent will be within two hours of a medical center or health care center” as a result of the new initiatives, Shinseki said.
Congress has authorized $568 million to build the new hospital, but that figure is still substantially short of the facility’s original cost estimates, and Shinseki didn’t provide details on when – or whether — the administration will seek new funding from Congress.
