Oceanside, Calif.-based Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System partnered to provide total joint replacement surgeries.
Here are three things to know:
1. The VA is currently constrained by its operating room capacity. The collaboration allows the VA to refer patients to NHCP instead of civilian medical facilities.
2. NHCP surgeons have started seeing patients at the Oceanside clinic on a weekly basis. The first total joint replacement surgery is scheduled at NHCP later in November.
3. The San Diego VA has one of the largest VA research programs in the country with a $42.9 million budget, 205 principal investigators and 686 projects. The system serves more than 83,000 veterans.
"This is the result of a tremendous collaborative effort between the VA and Navy Medicine," said Captain Frank Pearson, NHCP's commanding officer. "It moves Navy Medicine's readiness mission forward by leaps and bounds by providing surgeons and operating room staff a mix of patient case load and complexity to hone their clinical skills and remain current so they are always at the ready to provide life and limb-saving care to our warfighters."