VA Pittsburgh receives funding for continued infrastructure improvements

(File Photo of an American Flag)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has now received funding for Non-recurring Maintenance projects in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2026, after it received funds earlier in the first and second quarters of the year.

This funding is part of a record $4.8 billion in nationwide VA spending to improve, modernize and repair health care facilities in the fiscal year 2026 via the Veterans Health Administration’s Non-recurring Maintenance program.

According to a release from the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, (VAPHS) funding for VAPHS in the third quarter of FY2026 will be used to:

  • Upgrade infrastructure at the University Drive (UD) and H.J. Heinz III campuses to accommodate Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM). VHA’s EHRM provides a seamless and paperless transition for veterans moving from receiving care on active duty to receiving care at VA.
  • Renovate three floors at UD as part of an ongoing plan to move patient-facing areas to lower levels for Veterans’ convenience, reducing wait times and elevator trips.
  • Repair fire and smoke dampers at UD.
  • Replace sanitizing, coil ultraviolet lighting systems in the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system at UD.
  • Repair concrete and expansion joints at UD’s parking garage.
  • Replace piping that carries clean, pressurized water from the city’s lines to Primary Care at UD.
  • Modernize sterile-processing service’s medical-instrument cleaning and water-filtration systems for cleaning, disinfecting and packaging medical/surgical tools at UD.

VA has obligated a total of $2.2 billion of the total $4.8 billion committed for the fiscal year 2026, and that obligation of funds in the third quarter includes:

  • $915 million to repair and upgrade outdated infrastructure systems in medical facilities.
  • $229 million for maintenance and modernization of facility infrastructure to support future electronic health record system updates.
  • $11 million for major building upgrades like elevators, electrical systems, and boiler plants.