Long-Awaited New Port Richey Veterans Health Clinic On Track To Open Fall 2020

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — After touring the facility under construction on Little Road in New Port Richey, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, said the new Veterans Administration outpatient health clinic is on track for a fall 2022 opening.

In July, Bilirakis held a town hall forum to update veterans on the progress of the much-anticipated new facility at 7932 Little Road, which will merge five separate veterans clinics into one and provide expanded services for veterans of Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said more than 100,000 veterans make their home in Tampa Bay, the 27th largest population of veterans in the country. Pasco County alone has 54,000 veterans, according to the Pasco County Division of Veterans Services.

With the growing number of veterans in the area, in 2018 Bilirakis secured federal funding and approval for the Veterans Administration to build a 114,000-square-foot veterans clinic that will provide expanded services.

"I am glad to see us moving a step closer to our veterans finally being able to access these new services right here in our community," he said. "This means west Pasco veterans will no longer have to travel to Tampa for these enhanced services."

The clinic will consolidate the Port Richey Satellite Outpatient Clinic, New Port Richey Eye Clinic, New Port Richey Home-Based Primary Care, New Port Richey Mental Health Center and the New Port Richey Dental Clinic.

Services will include primary care, audiology, cardiology, dermatology, optometry, podiatry, spirometry, minor surgery and mental health along with a prosthetics lab, physical therapy center, library, canteen and eligibility and enrollment services.

It will be equipped with magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray, ultrasound and computerized tomography machines to provide diagnostic radiology services.

Additionally, the clinic will have a laboratory to draw blood, nutritional counseling and nursing services and a pharmacy to process routine prescriptions.

In the meantime, east Pasco veterans are awaiting the opening of another new VA clinic in Zephyrhills some time this year.

Located at 378727 Eiland Blvd., Zephyrhills, the 14,000-square-foot clinic will replace the Zephyrhills Community-Based Outpatient Clinic at 6937 Medical View Lane, Zephyrhills, which sees about 6,000 veterans a month, and Zephyrhills Mental Health.

The new clinic will add podiatry and physical therapy services and expand primary care services from seven to 10 exam rooms and mental health services from five to six rooms.

It also will include anticoagulation pharmacy services, a lab and telehealth services.