Veteran and Georgetown resident Gary Dennett visits the Georgetown-Williamson County Veterans Memorial Plaza in Sun City. New VA health care clinics planned for Georgetown and Round Rock are expected to expand access to services for veterans in the coming years. (Brittany Anderson/Community Impact)
Veterans Affairs data shows that Williamson County is home to nearly 40,000 veterans, including many who are part of the Veterans Memorial Advisory Group in Georgetown. Despite a growing population, the only Austin-area VA health care clinics are located in Cedar Park and southeast Austin.
To help close this gap, the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System is building a $44.5 million VA outpatient clinic in Round Rock. The 63,808-square-foot facility is expected to open in 2027 and provide primary and preventative care, mental health support, and other specialty services.
In February, U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, also advanced legislation authorizing the construction of a VA outpatient clinic in Georgetown by next year, which could cost upward of $96.4 million.
According to Carter, representatives are currently following the standard congressional process for advancing this piece of legislation. This includes authorizing the bill through the VA committee, which will hold hearings and make revisions as necessary, before moving to the appropriations committee to determine funding measures and allocate the funding needed.
“Clinics don’t just happen,” Carter said. “They’re the result of years of advocacy and ensuring that what we do makes the veterans have the best local health care they can get.”
Current situation
The VA operates a larger hospital and clinic in Temple, which many local veterans utilize because the southeast Austin and Cedar Park clinics are smaller, community-based outpatient clinics, said Tom Palladino, Texas Veterans Commission executive director.
“Veterans have to travel a long way,” he said. “Especially if they’re disabled veterans, you’re putting a burden on them. So, proximity is really important.”
According to CTVHCS, more than 28,000 veterans within a 30-minute drive of the new Round Rock site were enrolled in the VA health care system as of 2019.
For Georgetown residents and Vietnam veterans Steve and Diane Klutz, these new clinics could mean receiving health care closer to home, they said.
“Definitely, if they had meeting areas for veterans for support groups, that would be nice [and] then you wouldn’t have to drive as far,” Diane Klutz said. “It’s the same as trying to get your records. It would be nice to be able to go to a closer clinic to get your blood work done and then go for your appointment.”
A location has not yet been determined for the Georgetown clinic.
VA clinic drive time averages
At 9 a.m. from Georgetown’s city center:
To Temple hospital and clinic: 40-50 minutes
To Austin clinic: 35-50 minutes
To Cedar park clinic: 20-35 minutes
To new Round Rock clinic: 15-30 minutes
Zooming in
According to Palladino, the Round Rock clinic is set to provide primary and preventive care, specialty services such as physical therapy, and mental health support. Available services will include:
Mental health counseling and therapy programs
Women’s health services
Specialty care such as cardiology, orthopedics and pain management
On-site laboratory and imaging services
Pharmacy support
Telehealth services
The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System is expected to break ground on a new Veterans Affairs health clinic this month. (Courtesy Central Texas Veterans Health Care System)
While the Georgetown clinic details are still being finalized, Carter said there will be a focus on mental health services.
The TVC will also work to place health care advocates in the new clinics, Palladino said.
The local impact
The Klutzes said they have both utilized mental health services at the Temple VA clinic for years. Soon, they and other area veterans will have access to them at closer clinic locations.
Steve Klutz began receiving VA health care after experiencing a mental health crisis following 9/11, and has since formed a strong bond with his psychiatrist.
“Mental health-wise, when I went to them, ... they understood PTSD, and it was good,” he said. “They offer many things to veterans, especially those of us who have been to Vietnam, or World War II or Korea—who have been in combat.”
Diane Klutz said there are still some improvements the VA could make to address women’s health needs, but said her experience receiving mental health care has continued to improve.
“I think the thing for a woman is that, even as early as after 9/11, and the first decade of the 21st century, [the VA] still didn’t know what to do with women a whole lot,” she said. “I think they’re working on that. I do my psychiatric stuff through them, and I’m very pleased with that side of it.”
Why it matters
Receiving care at VA clinics comes down to feeling respected and understood, Steve Klutz said, which can help veterans coping with physical or mental health issues.
“It’s camaraderie; there’s a lot of that,” Steve Klutz said. “They do a good job in making you feel wanted.”
The TVC also trains community health care providers, law enforcement and nonprofits in military cultural competency to help them understand veterans’ perspectives, Palladino said. VA health care workers have typically worked with veterans for a long time, have family members that are veterans, or are veterans themselves, he said.
“Maybe years ago, there was a perception that they didn’t help veterans get through their crisis moments; it was more mechanical,” Palladino said. “But I think that they made a lot of efforts to change that.”
The new sites are part of a broader effort to expand offerings to military members, as the VA enrolled more than 100,000 new veterans in health care services in 2026. Funding for the Round Rock facility stems from a $4.8 billion package via the Veterans Health Administration’s Non-recurring Maintenance program.
Once open, the Round Rock clinic is expected to:
Expand care for 24,000 veterans in Williamson County and surrounding areas
Reduce average VA clinic travel times by 60-90 minutes
Create 100 jobs for 12 patient care teams
Stay tuned
CTVHCS officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Round Rock clinic on June 18, with the facility expected to be operational by winter 2027.
Per a news release from Rep. Carter’s office, the Georgetown clinic could also see construction begin in 2027.
“Every medical environment, civilian medical environment or VA medical environment, has its own culture,” Palladino said. “[If] the facility itself is older and has a lot of infrastructure problems, that can create an environment where people aren’t as happy. So these newer facilities really help the people that work there and help the clients that go in there.”
