Noteboom The Law Firm

New VA Medical Center Over Budget and Behind Schedule

April 30, 2010 - Consolidating two leading hospitals to better treat wounded troops has not gone the way the Pentagon initially planned. Their efforts have resulted in a price tag that has more than doubled. An independent review believes the project is so far out of control, it is possible care could suffer.

The initial plan included replacing the Walter Reed Army Medical Center with the National Naval Medical Center, a much larger complex, in Bethesda, Md. At the same time a new hospital was to be built at Fort Belvoir, VA. Those plans came with an initial price tag of $1 billion. That tab is now at $2.6 billion.

The same Pentagon report showing how far over budget the project is concluded it would take another $781 million to correct the litany of problems as they stand. Beyond that, the improvements cannot even be started until after the new facility in Bethesda, which will be named the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, is finished in September of 2011; this is the original due date for the completion of the consolidation.

As it stands, the center is seriously lacking in many areas that absolutely must be corrected. If the improvements are not made to the Medical Center:

• There will not be enough operating rooms;
• Some will not be big enough to house necessary surgical equipment; and
• There would not be enough single-patient rooms which are completely indispensable to control infection.

 One of the biggest problems with this project is the lack of accountability; there is no one person in charge of the project. As a result, a bill introduced last month would put the Deputy Defense Secretary, William Lynn, in charge. The bill also dog ears $400 million to make the Bethesda medical facility the "world-class" facility Congress originally envisioned.