About us

About VA Indiana Healthcare System 

VA Indiana Healthcare System provides you with outstanding health care, trains America’s future health care providers, and conducts important medical research.

Overview

The Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center (RLRVAMC) is the flagship of the Indiana VA system marketed to patients and caregivers as Veteran Health Indiana (VHI), is located two miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis. VHI has been serving Indiana Veterans since 1932. As Indiana’s Level 1A, tertiary care facility, VHI serves as home base for a system of inpatient and outpatient care across central Indiana. 

Health care and services

We provide you with health care services at 15 locations serving central and southern Indiana. Facilities include our Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, the Indianapolis VA Domiciliary, and our 13 community-based outpatient clinics in Indianapolis, Bloomington, Terre Haute, Crane, Edinburgh, Martinsville, Shelbyville, and West Lafayette. To learn more about the services each location offers, visit the VA Indiana health services page. 

VA Indiana Healthcare System is a leading health care system and innovative care center in the Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 (VISN 10), which includes medical centers and clinics in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Learn more about VISN 10

Research and development

At the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, we conduct research to discover knowledge, develop VA scientists and health care leaders, and create innovations that advance health care for Veterans and the nation. We offer Veterans the opportunity to participate in and benefit from our work. Our goal is to use research to promote better health and health care for all.

Our research program includes more than 290 active studies conducted by 104 research investigators. Major areas of research include:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Diabetes
• Alcoholism
• AIDS
• Lung disease
• Fungal infection
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Kidney disease
• Mental health
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Chronic pain
• Health services research

Teaching and learning

Our Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center is a teaching hospital that provides a full range of health services for Veterans, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research.

At our hospital, we provide medical and allied health training to more than 2,500 students each year including 150 fellows, 775 residents, 832 medical students, 680 nursing students, 48 physician assistant students, and 51 pharmacy students.

We maintain more than 59 partnerships with colleges, universities, and professional schools in Indiana and throughout the United States. Our top affiliates include:

• Indiana University School of Medicine
• Indiana University School of Nursing
• Marian University
• Purdue University
• Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) School of Nursing

We’re proud of our partnerships with top institutions and organizations that support the educational mission of the VA.

Fast facts

• We have been serving Veterans since 1932.
• Our hospital is part of a large campus that includes three large community hospitals and the University of Indiana’s medicine and nursing schools.
• Each year we serve more than 62,000 Veterans, including 5,000 women.
• We complete more than 736,000 outpatient appointments, 8,600 inpatient admissions, 7,000 surgical procedures, and 29,000 emergency visits each year.
• Our hospital has 159 inpatient beds and a 50-bed domiciliary for Veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
• Our hospital was named for Richard L. Roudebush, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1961 to 1971. Roudebush served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1944 as a demolition specialist. He was born and raised on a farm in Hamilton County.
• VA Indiana Healthcare System operates the only YMCA facility for Veterans in the nation.

Accreditations and achievements

Our facilities and programs have received accreditation from:

• Joint Commission
• Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association
• National Commission for Quality Assurance (Human Subjects Protection Program)
• Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs
• American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer

The VA Indiana Healthcare System received the following awards:

• Planetree Bronze Recognition for Meaningful Progress in Patient-Centered Care, 2013

Facility Accomplishments:

• One of five U.S. hospitals recognized by the American Hospital Association (AHA) for its leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety.
• Activated the nation’s first Veteran's YMCA in Pike Township, Indiana. The YMCA donated 5,000 square foot of its newest facility for dedicated, VA-staffed programming that targets physical medicine, rehabilitation, healthy eating, complementary and alternative therapies, and counseling services. Utilizing the national VA-YMCA Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the facility is the trailblazer in putting the MOU to practice and is regularly fielding questions and helping other VAMCs attempting to duplicate its success.
• A leader in Lean Management since 2009, the facility has completed 273 health system-wide projects and certified over 1,400 employees as yellow, green, and black belts. Over 4,740 improvement ideas have been generated, staffed, and accomplished from 77 huddle boards and 46 area improvement centers located on inpatient, outpatient, and administrative units. On average, the facility realizes $2 million in cost avoidance and cost savings annually.
• Activated a newly renovated, 43,000 square foot, Domiciliary Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Program (DRRTP) in Lawrence, Indiana. The 50-bed facility provides all Veterans a private suite that includes a private bedroom and bath, a locked female-only unit, and close access to a local community college and commercial areas for work.
• VHI’s research program operates 245 active research protocols involving human subjects, laboratory animals, and hazardous agents, with a budget of approximately $21 million.
• During the pandemic, the Community Based Clinics shifted operations to move most staff to the main campus and keep one onsite team at each clinic to provide Veterans who did not want virtual appointments or had urgent needs with face-to-face appointments. Veterans stayed connected with healthcare providers through VA Video Connect and by phone with over 500,000 phone and 88,000 video connect appointments from March to June.
• During the pandemic Veteran Health Indiana (VHI) closely followed CDC and VA guidelines from the beginning. VHI opened a respiratory ED, established a COVID-19 drive-thru testing clinic, adjusted clinical space to accommodate High Consequence Infection screening and inpatient overflows and more.