VA set to open $92 million multi-specialty outpatient clinic in Monroeville

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic behind Monroeville Mall won’t just provide a nearby medical facility for the eastern suburbs — the region of Western Pennsylvania with the highest concentration of veterans.

It also will clear congestion on “Cardiac Hill” in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, where VA officials soon will have the ability to, in VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Director Donald Koenig’s words, “right-size our University Drive campus.”

The new 64,000-square-foot clinic is set for a soft opening in late July.

It has a full laboratory, as well as areas for physical therapy, radiology, podiatry, optometry, hematology, oncology, a pain clinic and a bay where a mobile MRI truck can dock.

VA officials estimate the facility will serve about 400 veterans daily.

It will be open from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

The Monroeville Multi-Specialty VA Outpatient Clinic is on Mall Circle Drive behind the Macy’s department store.

It is the VA’s sixth and largest community-based outpatient center in the region.

The facility benefits from small touches such as color-coded medical carts that remain locked unless in the presence of their designated operator’s staff ID card; four multipurpose rooms that can be used for staff training, group discussions or veterans’ yoga sessions; and on the infrastructure level, separate hallways for patients and staff.

“That way, staff can stock the whole building without having to maneuver around patients,” VA Facilities Space Planner Ed Miller said. “We also installed a lot of sliding ‘barn’ doors because our doors are already wider to accommodate wheelchairs. And every swinging door you put in takes up 9 square feet. So it’s convenient, and it’s also a little space-saver that adds up.”

VA officials expect the location, behind the mall and in close proximity to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Route 22, Route 376 and Route 48, will reduce commuting time for thousands of veterans, particularly in the eastern suburbs. They have entered into a 20-year lease with the General Services Administration, which oversees federal government properties.

Same-day appointments

Veterans can receive same-day primary care appointments at the center. Koenig said the majority of primary care operations will be relocating from the Oakland facility to Monroeville, and nearly all of its 140 employees will be transferred from other VA facilities.

“We added some radiology staff, but most people will be coming from University Drive and other clinics,” Koenig said. “A lot of the employees who live out this way are happy to not be going through a tunnel to work every day once we open.”

The Monroeville location was built partly in response to feedback after the 2013 closure of the VA’s Highland Drive campus in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood. Veterans expressed frustration with traffic in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood as well as with the typically-packed parking garage at the University Drive facility.

“Vets who were used to coming to Highland Park were telling us, and their Congresspeople, ‘Wow, doing Cardiac Hill and navigating the parking is tough,” Koenig said.

Freeing up space at University Drive will allow the VA to provide parking for veterans who require surgery or specialty care, expand its emergency department to decrease wait times and build psychiatric “safe rooms” for veterans in crisis.

Miller said staff at the Monroeville clinic is organized in the VA’s patient-aligned care team model, with each patient assigned a medical team that includes a doctor, nutritionist, nurse, pharmacist, mental health professional or other specialists as necessary. The teams each will be assigned three patient rooms that all are within 5 feet of each other thanks to the staff-only hallways.

For more, see VA.gov/pittsburgh-health-care.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .