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About us

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

About VA Tampa health care

The VA Tampa 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 20 locations in central Florida. Facilities include our James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa and 6 community-based outpatient clinics and a Primary Care Annex in Brooksville, Hidden River (Tampa), Lakeland, Lecanto, New Port Richey, South Hillsborough (Riverview), and Zephyrhills. We also maintain 2 mobile clinics for Veterans who can't easily visit one of our facilities, and we offer a domiciliary at the Temple Terrace Clinic for Veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. To learn more about the services each location offers, visit the VA Tampa health services page.

The VA Tampa Healthcare System is one of the leading health care systems serving Veterans in the VA Sunshine Health Care Network. We’re an innovative care center within the Veterans Integrated Service Network 8 (VISN 8), which includes medical centers and clinics in Florida, Georgia, and the Caribbean.

Learn more about VISN 8

Research and development

At  James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, 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: 

  • Chronic pain
  • Traumatic brain injuries
  • Breast cancer
  • Prostate cancer
  • Sleep disorders

Teaching and learning

Our James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital is a teaching hospital that provides a full range of services, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research.  

We are affiliated with the University of South Florida College of Medicine and currently have 131 other active affiliations with leading colleges, universities, and professional schools. We offer residency training in all major medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties. We also provide associated health training in nursing, psychology, audiology, social work, dietetics, and pharmacy.

Every year we train more than 1,500 health care professionals, including medical students, residents and fellows.

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

Fast facts

  • Every year, the VA Tampa Healthcare System provides primary and specialty health care services to more than 100,000 Veterans living in 4 counties in central Florida. They include Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, and Polk counties. 
  • Located in Tampa, the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital opened in 1972. 
  • Our medical center is named for James Andrew Haley, a Democrat who represented Florida’s 83rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1953 to 1977. 
  • VA Tampa Healthcare System has approximately 5,157 employees; 30% of our employees are Veterans. 
  • A total of 857 people volunteer at our facilities. 
  • Our hospital has 499 operating beds.
  • In 2019, we had 11,042 total admissions and 1.4 million outpatient visits (an average of 3,835 outpatient visits every day). 
  • James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital is the only VA hospital with 11 rehabilitation programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Accreditations and achievements

Our facilities and programs have received accreditation from:

  • The Joint Commission 
  • Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities 
  • College of American Pathologists Laboratory Survey 
  • Food and Drug Administration Blood Bank Inspection 
  • American College of Radiology Mammography Inspection 
  • American Association of Blood Banks 
  • National Health Physics Program 
  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
  • Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program 
  • Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care 
  • Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education 
  • American Nurses Credential Center 
  • American Psychological Association

The VA Tampa Healthcare System has received the following awards:

Magnet Award – In March 2001, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital became the first VA hospital in the nation to receive the Magnet Award, the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s national benchmark for quality nursing care. Our medical center is 1 of only 4 VA facilities and 1 of only 342 health care organizations worldwide to receive this recognition. Our facility achieved Magnet re-designation in 2005 and 2009 for all care delivery sites, including ambulatory care settings and nursing homes.

Annual reports and newsletters

Annual reports

Newsletters

Veterans Health Matters Magazine