RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) -Several politicians are raising concerns over the pausing of Dialysis Services at the Hot Springs VA Medical Center.
Dialysis service at the Hot Springs VA Medical Center has been out of operation since October. The issue now has the attention of several state leaders, including State Senator Amber Hulse, who represents Hot Springs. Hulse says she first found out about the issue when it arose in October.
“I was promised by several people that the dialysis would be up very quickly,” said Hulse on Thursday.
Hulse, in her criticism of the service still being down, pointed out that the state invests millions of dollars in the state-run veterans’ home in Hot Springs, where veterans live out their later years.
“We invest millions and millions of dollars in the state home facility, the long-term care facility for our veterans, and they’re supposed to be getting their healthcare from the VA facility in Hot Springs,” said Hulse. “It doesn’t make sense to invest, you know, 10s of millions of dollars in a state home if we’re busing our veterans hours and hours away for their healthcare service.”
The lapse of service has caught the attention of both Congressman Dusty Johnson and Senator Mike Rounds. Johnson’s office says they were first notified of the issue in October to which VA officials cited patient safety concerns. Johnson sent a letter on Friday to the VA secretary highlighting that his office was told in January that there was no estimated timeline for reopening the unit and that the closure stemmed from a water purification issue. Johnson wrote to the VA secretary that he wanted to underscore the urgency of reaching a solution.
Senator Mike Rounds posted to social media Thursday, expressing his concerns over the issue, Rounds writing in part “Any lapse of service is unacceptable, and we are working with the VA secretary’s team to pursue immediate steps to address the situation.”
KOTA Territory News received a response to our story from the VA Black Hills Health care System, which reads as below:
“Dialysis services at the Hot Springs VA Medical Center (VAMC) have not been discontinued. Hot Springs VAMC paused dialysis treatments in October 2025 out of an abundance of caution while an issue with the dialysis water supply is addressed.
In the meantime, all Hot Springs VAMC dialysis patients are receiving care at VA expense through Monument Health in Rapid City, Pine Ridge Indian Health Service, and in Gillette, Wyoming.”
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