About us

About VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System 

The VA Eastern Kansas 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 10 locations in eastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri. Facilities include our Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka, our Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth, and 8 community-based outpatient clinics in Chanute, Fort Scott, Garnett, Lawrence, Junction City, and Kansas City, Kansas; and in Platte City and St. Joseph, Missouri. To learn more about the services each location offers, visit the VA Eastern Kansas health services page. 

The VA Eastern Kansas 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 the VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System, we conduct research to discover knowledge, develop VA scientists and health care leaders, and create innovations that advance health care 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: 

• Cancer prevention
• Cardiovascular disease prevention
• Exercise promotion
• Practitioner education

Teaching and learning

Our medical centers in Topeka and Leavenworth are general medicine and surgery teaching hospitals that provide a full range of health services for Veterans, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research. 

We offer residencies in many medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties. We also provide associated training in nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, psychology, and other health care professions. 

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

Fast facts

• The VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System serves the health care needs of Veterans across 20,000 square miles and 39 counties in eastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri.
• Our Leavenworth medical center is named for Dwight D. Eisenhower, a native of Abilene, Kansas who served as the 34th president of the United States and as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II. 
• Our Topeka medical center is named in honor of Harry W. Colmery, an attorney and World War I pilot who served as national commander of the American Legion from 1936 to 1937. Colmery is considered the main architect of the G.I. Bill, which provided a wide range of benefits to veterans returning from World War II. 
• Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center started in 1884 as a home for Veterans with disabilities.  
• Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center has been serving Veterans since 1946. 
• The VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System has an operating budget of about $330 million and nearly 2,000 full-time employees who care for about 41,500 Veterans every year. 

Accreditations and achievements

Our facilities and programs have received accreditation from:

• Joint Commission
• American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
• American Psychological Association
• Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities

The VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System has received the following awards:

• VA National Center for Patient Safety Gold Cornerstone Recognition Award

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