About VA Montana Healthcare System

The VA Montana Healthcare System provides a VA presence in every major city in the state through a series of community based clinics, a nursing home, and an acute care medical center.

Fort Harrison (Helena) is a 50-bed acute care, medical-surgical facility that offers a broad range of acute, chronic, and specialized inpatient and outpatient services for both male and female veterans. Specialty care includes internal medicine, gerontology, neurology, dermatology, cardiology, rheumatology, palliative care, pain management, medical oncology, surgery (general, vascular, laparoscopic, endoscopic), urology, orthopedics, plastic, ophthalmology, ENT, podiatry, gynecology, chiropractic care, psychiatry (including outpatient substance abuse treatment and PTSD and MST specific care), and ambulatory care (primary care). Radiology Service provides a broad range of diagnostic and interventional care provided on a full time basis. Pathology Services are available on site also provided on a full time basis. Telemedicine services are available for psychiatry, radiology, ophthalmology and tele-home health.

A 30-bed Community Living Center (CLC) that provides general and ventilator dependent care is located in Miles City. Primary care is provided at Billings, Bozeman, Anaconda, Great Falls, Missoula, Kalispell, And Glasgow. Staff and contract specialists visit the clinics regularly and provide access to specialty care as needed.  Two additional primary care sites will be located in Lewistown and Cutbank, in early 2008.

Montana is the fourth largest state geographically and has one of the largest per capita veteran populations. To augment mental health services so they coincide with the other nine out based clinics, VA Montana Health Care System contracted mental health care outside Lewis and Clark County (location of Fort Harrison) to reduce veteran travel. This allowed the VA to provide for local care while maximizing funding in rural areas without making the veteran travel.

Montana has two state veterans' homes located in Columbia Falls (northwest) and Glendive (east). VA also uses contract arrangements with private nursing homes to allow veterans to be placed in long term care facilities closer to their families.