About us

About the VA Columbia Missouri Healthcare System 

The VA Columbia Missouri Healthcare System provides you with outstanding health care, trains America’s future health care providers, and conducts important medical research.  

Health care and services

We provide you with health care services at nine locations in Missouri. Our facilities include Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia and eight community-based outpatient clinics located in Camdenton, Jefferson City, Kirksville, Marshfield, Mexico, Sedalia, St. James, and Waynesville. To learn more about the services each location offers, visit the VA Columbia Missouri health services page.

The VA Columbia Missouri Healthcare System is one of the leading health care systems serving Veterans in the VA Heartland Network. We’re an innovative care center within the Veterans Integrated Service Network 15 (VISN 15), which includes medical centers and clinics in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Arkansas.

Learn more about VISN 15

Research and development

At Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, we conduct research to discover knowledge, develop VA scientists and health care leaders, and create innovations that advance the field of medicine for Veterans and the nation. We offer Veterans the opportunity to participate in and benefit from our work. Our goal is to use research to promote better health and health care for all.

Major research areas include:

Radiopharmaceutical Development

Imaging

Traumatic Brain Injury

Teaching and learning

As an academic health center, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veteran’s Hospital is committed to excellent patient care, education, and research.  Truman VA provides a full range of inpatient and outpatient health services to Veterans from 43 counties in Missouri, as well as Pike County, Illinois. Approximately 40,000 Veterans receive health care at Truman VA each year from comprehensive services that include primary care, medical and surgical specialties, behavioral health, physical and occupational therapy, pharmacy services and more.

We also maintain active affiliations with the University of Missouri School of Medicine, the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, the MU School of Health Professions, and more. We provide training for about 900 residents, interns, and students each year. 

We’re proud of our partnerships with region's top institutions and organizations that support the educational mission of the VA.

Fast facts

• Construction of our hospital began in 1968 to replace a VA hospital in Excelsior Springs that closed in 1951. We admitted our first patient on April 4, 1972.
• In 1975, Congress renamed our hospital after President Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president and World War I Veteran. He was a native of Lamar, Missouri.
• Our hospital maintains 130 inpatient beds.
• In 2018, we served 37,987 patients and completed 421,617 outpatient visits.
• We maintain a partnership with Frederick Douglass High School. Students have paid jobs in the VA Columbia Missouri Healthcare System, and complete self-directed academic work in a classroom with a Douglass teacher.

Accreditations and achievements 

Our facilities and programs have received accreditation from:

• The Joint Commission
• Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities

Annual reports and newsletters

Annual reports

Newsletters

Coming soon!