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About us

At the VA Syracuse Healthcare System, we’re dedicated to improving the lives of Veterans and their families every day.

About VA Syracuse Healthcare System 

The VA Syracuse 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 12 locations in central New York. Facilities include our Syracuse VA Medical Center and 11 community-based outpatient clinics in Auburn, Binghamton, Cortland, Massena, Oswego, Rome, Syracuse, and Watertown. To learn more about the services each location offers, and the services our mobile clinic provides, visit the VA Syracuse health services page. 

The VA Syracuse Healthcare System is one of the leading health care systems serving Veterans in the New York/New Jersey VA Health Care Network. We’re an innovative care center within the Veterans Integrated Service Network 2 (VISN 2), which includes medical centers and clinics throughout New York,  New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 

Learn more about VISN 2

Research and development

At the Syracuse VA Medical Center, we have a $2.5 million research and development program that includes approximately 70 studies on a variety of topics. 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. 

Teaching and learning

Our Syracuse VA Medical Center is a teaching hospital that provides a full range of services, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research.  

We have an active affiliation with the State University of New York, Upstate Medical University. More than 650 students, residents, interns, and fellows receive training at our medical center each year. The Syracuse VA Medical Center also has 8 affiliated nursing education programs and a physician assistant externship with LeMoyne College. In addition, we have a long-standing educational partnership with Syracuse University to provide students with field experience in audiology, speech pathology, and social work.

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

Fast facts

  • VA Syracuse Healthcare System provides primary and behavioral health care to Veterans living in a 13-county area of central New York.
  • The Syracuse VA Medical Center, a 106-bed general medical and surgical facility, has been serving Veterans since June 14, 1953. 
  • Along with our medical center and community-based clinics, we also operate a 48-bed community care center that provides a community day program, mental health intensive case management program, homeless Veterans program, and vocational services. 
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs named the Syracuse VA Medical Center as a Center of Excellence for its Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom and Polytrauma programs.   
  • The Syracuse VA Medical Center is the principal referral center for neurosurgery and kidney stone treatment, serving all upstate New York and northern Pennsylvania Veterans.
  • Our medical center is also a Level II polytrauma center for VISN 2 and an amputee center of care.
  • On June 14, 2013, we opened a new $90 million, 6-floor, 30-bed Regional Spinal Cord Disorder (SCI/D) Center, which houses a therapeutic pool, expanded outpatient surgical services, a dialysis and infusion program, and 7 operating rooms. 

Accreditations and achievements 

Our facilities and programs have received accreditation from:

  • The Joint Commission
  • Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs

 

The VA Syracuse Healthcare System received the following awards:

  • Partner for Change Award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care. 

 

CARF Survey visit notice:  March 17 & 18, 2022

Syracuse VA invited the surveyors to evaluate how well we meet international standards for quality. The survey will tell us what we are doing well and ways we might improve. As a result of this survey, we may earn or continue accreditation.

As part of the survey, the surveyors will interview people who receive services, their families, our staff, and others. Some questions the survey team members might ask people are:

  1. Do we provide a clean and safe setting?
  2. Do you receive the services you need and want?
  3. Are you treated with respect?
  4. Do you take part in planning your services?
  5. Are you told what you need to know about your services?
  6. Are your questions answered in a way you understand?
  7. Do you know where to go with questions or concerns?

If you would like to talk with one of the survey team members or want to learn more about CARF International, please let one of our staff members know by calling .  You may also contact CARF International directly.

* CARF International — A group of companies that includes CARF, CARF Canada, and CARF Europe.

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