On Capitol Hill, U.S. representatives are fighting to keep several community-based outpatient clinics, also known as CBOCS, open.

"Because of the passage of the MISSION Act, which has been pointed to for the reason for this new document that came to Congress – 174 closures of CBOCs across America and every state, four in New Mexico, in Hispanic and Native American communities, and I'm not OK with this," U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said.

Sonya Smith, cabinet secretary with the New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services, said veterans in the state rely heavily on CBOCs.

"So the notion that they may be closed is not sitting well with us at all," Smith said. "We're here to do everything we can to not only convince this Air Commission to keep those CBOCs open, but to improve them."

The CBOC in Rio Rancho would reportedly move to Albuquerque. Meanwhile, clinics in Gallup, Española, Las Vegas and Raton would just close.

Veterans in those places may not have a backup plan for care.

"There's a claim that there's going to be 255 replacement facilities for these 174 closures by the VA," Luján said. "No one's told me that one's coming to New Mexico. So my veterans are going to have to try to find care somewhere in a state that has a shortage of primary health physicians in 32 of 33 counties, and a shortage of mental behavioral health physicians in every one of our 33 counties."

The CBOC in Gallup currently serves 2,000 veterans.

"If they go to community-based medical, Rehoboth is having their problems, we can't go there hardly anymore," Cmdr. David Cuellar with Veterans Helping Veterans said. "We don't have any clinics in Gallup, and where are the – OK, we have the Indian Health Service, which is fine for Native veterans, but what about non-Native veterans, where do they go?"

However, this change might take some time.

"These just now are recommendations," Smith said. "So we're going to take full advantage of this time. We know that the Air Commission are supposed to hold public hearings in those areas where they are proposing closures."

Source: https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/possible-closure-of-4-veterans-clinics-in-new-mexico-prompts-concern/6434285/