About the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center - Overview

Medical Care

Awarded the Robert W. Carey Organizational Excellence Award in 2005, the Robert W. Carey Circle of Excellence Quality Award in 2007, and re-designation for Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services in 2008, the MEDVAMC serves as the primary health care provider for more than 120,000 veterans in southeast Texas. Veterans from around the country are referred to the MEDVAMC for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases. The MEDVAMC is home to a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic; a Network Polytrauma Center; an award-winning Cardiac and General Surgery Program; a Liver Transplant Center; and one of the VA’s six Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers. Including the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Lufkin, Galveston, and Texas City, MEDVAMC outpatient clinics logged nearly 900,000 outpatient visits in fiscal year 2008.

Teaching Hospital

Nearly 3,500 health care professionals provide high-quality care to our Veterans. For more than 50 years, the MEDVAMC has provided clinical training for health care professionals through our major affiliate, Baylor College of Medicine *.

MEDVAMC now operates the largest VA residency program with more than 251 slots. Each academic year, more than 1,972 students are trained through 144 affiliation agreements with institutions of higher learning in 19 states. Health care students from fields such as nursing, dietetics, social work, physical therapy, and a wide variety of medical specialties receive training here each year. This responsibility serves to enhance the quality of care provided to our Veterans. As a member institution of the Texas Medical Center * (TMC) since 1985, the MEDVAMC staff serves on various TMC oversight committees that contribute to improved patient care and hospital operations. The vast majority of MEDVAMC physicians are also faculty members of Baylor College of Medicine.

Awards and Accreditation

Many MEDVAMC programs have received national awards and honors including accreditation from Joint Commission * for hospital, long-term care, behavioral health care, and substance abuse. In 2005, the MEDVAMC was awarded a three-year Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities * (CARF) accreditation for its Comprehensive Integrated Inpatient Rehabilitation Program and Spinal Cord Injury Care Line. In 2007, the MEDVAMC received praise from the VA Continuous Improvement in Cardiac Surgery Program for decreasing its already exceptionally low cardiac surgery mortality rate despite increased patient load caused by the 2005 hurricanes and from the VA Inpatient Evaluation Center for having a significantly low standardized mortality rate in its Surgical Intensive Care unit for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. In 2008, the MEDVAMC was awarded three-year CARF accreditations for its Mental Health Care Line’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Health Care for Homeless Veterans Programs. The MEDVAMC was again awarded a full three-year term of accreditation for its radiation oncology services as the result of a survey by the American College of Radiology *, becoming only program in the state of Texas to receive this accreditation. Also last year, the MEDVAMC earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious ENERGY STAR *, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection, becoming only one of two hospitals in Houston with this designation. In late 2008, the laboratory at the MEDVAMC was awarded accreditation by the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists *, based on the result of an on-site inspection and the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. * awarded full accreditation to the MEDVAMC.

Modern Facility

Located on a 118-acre campus and built in 1991, MEDVAMC is a state-of-the-art facility with 375 hospital beds, a 40-bed Spinal Cord Injury Center, and a 120-bed transitional care unit for long-term care. An automated, computer-controlled transport system delivers food, laundry, and supplies throughout the building. The six-story granite building is designed with four exterior sections and four atriums that contain patio gardens, wheelchair basketball courts, and a rehabilitation pool.

Research & Development

Supported with more than $16 million annually, research conducted by MEDVAMC staff ensures Veterans access to cutting-edge medical and health care technology. With 563 active research projects, the MEDVAMC Research & Development (R&D) Program is an integral part of the medical center’s mission and plays a very important role in the health care Veterans receive. The production of new knowledge, techniques, and products has led to improved prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control of disease. The MEDVAMC R&D Program includes four components: Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development, Clinical Science Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research and Development, and Health Services Research and Development. Collectively, these services support research covering biomedicine, clinical trials, rehabilitation, and health services. Today, VA is a leader in many areas of research. Some of the recent achievements and initiatives include a study which found angioplasty more cost-effective than bypass surgery; a new type of prosthetic hand providing sensory feedback to the brain, a step toward producing artificial hands and legs that can feel; research into preventing outbreaks caused by an increasingly antibiotic resistant germ; animal and cell-culture tests showing the ‘goldenseal’ root as an effective cholesterol-lowering agent; and exploration of the depletion of B cells, a type of lymphocyte that makes antibodies and presents antigens to other immune cells, as a potential therapy for autoimmune diseases.