Minneapolis VA Medical Center

VA Benefits

Paid Time Off:

• 26 Days paid annual (vacation/personal) leave
• 13 Days paid sick leave each year with no limit on accumulation
• 11 Federal holidays with pay annually
• 5 Days paid absence to attend approved CME courses

Insurance:

• Health Insurance: VA employees have an outstanding number of health insurance plans from which to choose (premiums are partially paid by VA) Lifetime Healthcare Insurance options available
• Dental & Vision: Our insurance options also include exceptional vision and dental plans (premiums are partially paid by VA)
• VA employees have the option to use Flexible Spending Accounts, which allow you to use tax-free dollars to pay for medical, dental, and vision care expenses that are not reimbursed by your health insurance plan
• Term life insurance, family, and additional coverage options are available with the cost shared by the Federal Government
• Long-term care insurance is available as an option

Federal Retirement Plan:

• VA employees are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). FERS is a three-tiered retirement plan composed of 1) Social Security benefits, 2) FERS-RAE basic benefits (pension), and 3) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) which is a 401K-type plan
• How is the pension funded? VA employees automatically contribute 4.4% of their salary each pay period and the VA contributes 12.2% of the employee’s salary each pay period for a total annual contribution percentage equal to 16.6% of the employee’s salary
• Similar to the 401(k) savings plans widely available in the private sector, the TSP allows employees to tax defer a portion of their income each year, subject to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service. For calendar year 2020, employees under the age of 50 may contribute up to $19,500, while those over age 50 are eligible to make catch-up contributions that allow them to defer up to $25,500.
• The Federal Government also provides an automatic basic contribution (1% of salary) and up to 4% of salary in matching contributions, depending on the amount of the employee contribution
• For retired military personnel, these benefits are in addition to full monthly retirement pay or pension
• In addition to FERS, VA provides health care insurance coverage for retired personnel
• Disability Retirement
• Employees are vested in a federal pension after only 5 years service

Facility and Location

The Minneapolis VA Medical Center is an affiliated teaching hospital which serves as the tertiary referral center for the Veterans Integrated Service Network 23. It has 237 acute care diagnostic and treatment beds, as well as a 104-bed extended care unit. The medical center provides primary, specialty, mental and behavioral health, and extended care and rehabilitative care to over 80,000 veteran patients in 2005.
It has one of the largest education and training programs in the VA system. Approximately 496 residents and 237 medical students involved in education and training programs at the facility each year. They are affiliated with the University of Minnesota Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. In conjunction with affiliations, residency-training programs exist in all of the medical, surgical, psychiatric, oral surgery and diagnostic specialties and subspecialties. The medical center has their own accredited hospital based training programs for Radiology Technicians and Dental residents.
AFFILIATIONS

The MVAMC has professional and technical education affiliations with 63 universities and colleges to provide health training in 36 programs. Listed are some major affiliations.