The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has touted the opening of 43 new healthcare clinics since President Donald Trump returned to the White House as evidence of expanded access to care, as the department pushes back against concerns over staffing shortages at its medical facilities.
The Trump administration made improving veterans’ access to healthcare one of its goals, with the president signing an executive order in May 2025 instructing the secretary of veterans affairs to plan ways to reduce wait times in clinics and develop a strategy to improve the delivery and quality of the existing services.
The executive order did not mention opening new clinics, focusing instead on expanding office hours, offering weekend appointments, and increasing the use of virtual healthcare options. But earlier this month, the VA boasted about the number of new clinics opened since Trump’s inauguration, framing it as proof that the administration is keeping its promise to veterans.
“Veterans First isn’t just a slogan—it’s action,” the VA wrote on X earlier this month, sharing a map of the country with pins showing the locations of the new clinics. “Opening 43 new VA clinics under President Trump is one more way we’re delivering on that promise.”
According to the agency, this is only one of the many actions taken by the administration in favor of veterans since January 2025. The backlog of veterans waiting for VA benefits is down more than 70 percent since January 20, 2025, the agency said in a recent update, while VA’s average disability claims processing time is down 46 percent.
Strictly regarding healthcare, the agency said it has completed a record 82,083,918 direct-care appointments in fiscal year 2025, up 4.1 percent from fiscal year 2024 and 59,989,662 community care appointments, up 12 percent from fiscal year 2024.
...
Since Trump’s inauguration, the agency has also offered veterans more than 3.4 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, in line with the president’s May 2025 executive order’s directions, including in the early morning, evening, and weekend.
The administration’s efforts to improve veterans’ access to healthcare is reflected in the numbers of veterans who have enrolled in VA healthcare so far in 2026, the agency said. “Under the leadership of President Trump, VA is improving its service to Veterans at a record pace, and the more than 300,000 new Veterans who have enrolled in VA healthcare this year underscore the success of our reforms,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “From expanding access to care, to reducing backlogs and wait times, and rebuilding VA facilities, President Trump’s VA is putting Veterans first in all that we do.”
Where the New VA Healthcare Clinics Have Opened
According to the VA’s website, the agency provides care at 1,380 health care facilities, including 170 VA Medical Centers and 1,193 outpatient clinics) to over 9.1 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program.
The 43 new healthcare clinics have opened in 25 states, including Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington, as well as the U.S. territory of Guam.
Ohio had the highest number of new clinics opened since January 2025, with a total of four. South Carolina and Virginia each saw three new clinics open, while California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Washington each saw two. The remaining states and Guam only saw one clinic opened since Trump’s return to office.
A full list of the locations is available at the bottom of this article.
Despite Expanded Access, VA Is Facing Staffing Struggle
These numbers are helping the VA reframe its achievements in the wake of a report issued by the VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) last month, which found that every single one of the nation’s 139 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers is experiencing severe occupational staffing shortages.
The report found that in fiscal year 2026, which runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026, VHA officials reported a total of 4,712 severe occupational staffing shortages, with 97 percent of facilities having severe occupational staffing shortages for the role of medical officer and 86 percent severe shortages for nurse roles.
CNN also recently reported that VA still struggles to find healthcare workers to fully staff its 470,000 square-foot facility an hour south of Washington, D.C., which opened up in March 2025. CNN wrote earlier this month that the facility has a staff vacancy rate of nearly 40 percent, though the VA pushed back saying it is not a long-term issue.
A spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the clinic is in its “opening in phases” and “met its hiring goals in the first three phases and is now in Phase 4.”
“In less than two years since opening, the clinic has already completed more than 245,000 appointments and is ahead of schedule for enrolling new patients,” the spokesperson said. “All eligible Veterans have the choice to get care at the Fredericksburg VA clinic, other nearby VA locations or dozens of nearby community providers and urgent care locations at VA expense.”
But the issue, as highlighted by the OIG report, may run deeper than the struggles faced by a newly opened clinic, as the VA struggles to fill medical positions due to a combination of competition for clinicians, recruitment and retention challenges, geographic constraints, administrative processes and the resources available to maintain staffing. The Trump administration may also be playing a role in exacerbating the shortages of staff, according to reports.
A New York Times analysis published in March found that the VA had eliminated thousands of medical positions left vacant following resignations and retirements last year, including more than 1,500 physicians and 4,900 nurses, choosing not to hire replacements for about 14,400 unfilled medical vacancies at its health care division.
Full List of New Clinics
These are the 43 new healthcare clinics opened by the VA since January 2025, according to data provided to Newsweek by the agency:
Alabama
- Florence VA Clinic: 410 Cox Boulevard, Sheffield, AL 35660
California
- Antelope Valley VA Clinic (AVC): 44439 Veterans Way (17th Street West), Lancaster, CA 93534
- VA Long Beach-Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center Community Living Center: 5901 East Seventh Street, Long Beach, CA 90822
Colorado
- Castle Rock VA Clinic: 3753 Dacoro Lane, Castle Rock, CO 80109
- Lieutenant Colonel John W. Mosley VA Clinic: 21825 East Quincy Avenue, Aurora, CO 80018-3155
Florida
- Sebring VA Clinic: 2931 New Life Way, Sebring, FL 33870
- Indian River VA Clinic: 777 37th Street, Vero Beach, FL 32960
Georgia
- Perry CBOC: 1309 S. Main St., Perry, GA
- Augusta VA Clinic: 820 St. Sebastian Way, Medical Building 1, 8A, Augusta, GA 30901-2643
Guam
- Guam 2 VA Clinic: Charlon Cabot, Route 3, Suite 101, Dededo, Guam 92929
Illinois
- Champaign VA Clinic: 1702 South Mattis Avenue, Champaign, IL 61821
Indiana
- Bloomington VA Clinic: 3050 N. Lintel Dr., Bloomington, IN 47404
Iowa
- Decorah VA Clinic: 1106 Military Blvd., Decorah, IA 52101
Kansas
- Paola VA Clinic: 301 Hedge Lane, Paola, KS 66071
Kentucky
- Prestonsburg CBOC: 236 North Highland Ave, Prestonsburg, KY 41653
- Hazard Clinic VA Clinic: 160 Nautilus Drive, Hazard, KY 41701
Minnesota
- Fergus Falls VA Clinic: 1205 West Lincoln Ave., Fergus Falls, MN 56537-1003
Montana
- Hamilton VA Clinic: 1331 North 1st Street, Hamilton, MT 59840-3104
New Jersey
- Atlantic County VA Clinic: 1201 New Road, Linwood, NJ 08221
New York
- Thomas P. Noonan Jr. Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic: 50-05 Metropolitan Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
- Yonkers VA Clinic: 66 Main Street, Yonkers, NY 10701
North Carolina
- Havelock VA Clinic: 506 US Hwy 70 West, Havelock, NC 28532
- Garner VA Clinic: 2700 Benson Rd, Garner, NC 27529
North Dakota
- Grand Forks VA Clinic: 1407 24th Ave S, Suite 100, Grand Forks, ND 58201
- Williston VA Clinic: Harvest Plaza: 3210 27th Street West, Suite 210, Williston, ND 58801
Ohio
- Lancaster VA Clinic: 2405 N Columbus Street, Lancaster, OH 43130
- Delaware VA Clinic: 870 Sunbury Road, Suite 202, Delaware, OH 43015
- Marion VA Clinic: 1148 Lake Blvd., Marion, OH 43302
- Wilmington VA Clinic: 31 Clark St, Wilmington, OH
Oklahoma
- North Portland VA Clinic: 3625 North West 56th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73112
Pennsylvania
- Huntingdon County VA Clinic: 10892 Fairgrounds Rd, Huntingdon, PA 16652
- Michael A. Marzano Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic: 1505 North Hermitage Road, Hermitage, PA 16146
Rhode Island
- Providence VA Medical Center - Mental Health Building Phase 2: 830 Chalkstone Avenue, Providence, RI 02908-4738
South Carolina
- Florence VA Clinic: 1380 Celebration Blvd., Florence, SC 29501
- Mount Pleasant VA Clinic: 180 Wingo Way, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
- Rock Hill VA Clinic: 459 Lakeshore Pkwy., Rock Hill, SC 29730
Tennessee
- Montgomery County VA Clinic: 647 Dunlop Avenue, Suite 102, Clarksville, TN 37040
Texas
- Victoria VA Clinic: 311 Spring Green Blvd, Victoria, TX 77904
Virginia
- Western Branch VA Clinic: 2508 Chesapeake Square Ring Road, Chesapeake, VA 23321-2187
- Fredericksburg 3 VA Clinic: 10432 Patriot Highway, Fredericksburg, VA 22408-2628
- North Battlefield VA Clinic: 70 Knells Ridge Blvd, Chesapeake, VA 23320
Washington
- Auburn WA VA Clinic: 1002 15th St. SW, Auburn, WA 98001
- Spokane Valley VA Clinic: 12509 East Mirabeau Parkway, Spokane, WA 99216
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Emma Lee-Sang