Guam VA Clinic and Naval Hospital Guam

Guam has the best VA health footprint of the three Pacific territories, and the comparison is the useful part of this entry. The Guam VA Clinic is at 498 Chalan Palasyo, Agana Heights, open Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. VA lists its services as caregiver support, geriatrics, homeless veteran care, a My HealtheVet coordinator, patient advocates, primary care, telehealth and women veteran care, with labs, mental health care, women's health care, radiology and social services coordinated through the primary care teams. In the Government Accountability Office's 2024 count of VA facilities in the territories, Guam had zero VA medical centers, one community-based outpatient clinic, zero other outpatient clinics and one Vet Center. American Samoa had the same clinic count; the Northern Mariana Islands had only the smaller "other outpatient clinic" category, and its Saipan clinic opens two days a week. The thing Guam has that the others do not is a Defense Department inpatient partner on the island. VA Pacific Islands has a resource sharing agreement with U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, located next to the Guam clinic, and Honolulu VA medical center staff completed 1,622 specialty care referrals to Naval Hospital Guam in fiscal 2023. For comparison they completed 6,681 mental health and specialty care referrals to Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu and 85,598 primary, mental health and specialty care referrals to Community Care Network providers across the three territories. That matters beyond Guam. A veteran in the Northern Mariana Islands facing a referral should ask whether Naval Hospital Guam can meet it, because Guam is a far shorter and cheaper flight than Honolulu. Specialty care at the clinic itself is limited. GAO reported that specialty care from VA providers in the Pacific territories is generally delivered by telehealth, by providers travelling from other VA Pacific Islands facilities, or by referral to the Honolulu VA medical center, which has no inpatient hospital of its own. The Guam Vet Center is separate from the clinic, at 400 Route 8, Suite 301, Maite, open Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It provides readjustment counselling in a non-medical setting at no cost, including for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and the psychological effects of military sexual trauma, and its eligibility rules do not require enrollment in VA health care or a service-connected rating. Guam Vet Center staff also run the Vet Center presence at the Saipan VA Clinic. Enrollment is ordinary federal VA health care enrollment. VA Pacific Islands reported roughly 7,200 enrolled veterans across its three territorial clinics in fiscal 2023, out of 57,195 enrolled with the system overall, and VA's population model estimated 12,800 veterans living in Guam in fiscal 2022. A local supplement worth knowing: 10 GCA § 67111 directs the Guam Office of Veterans Affairs to help with appointment scheduling, prescriptions and medical documentation and to provide non-emergency transportation to and from medical appointments and pharmacies.