Following the end of World War I, there was a pressing need for facilities to provide medical care for the influx of recently returning veterans in Minnesota and the surrounding states.

[2] In the fall of 1920, representatives from the Federal Government's Public Health Department negotiated a five-year lease of the 350-bed main building of the financially distressed Asbury Hospital located near Elliot Park in downtown Minneapolis.

In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge transferred 160 acres from the Fort Snelling Military Reservation by executive order to construct a permanent campus for this Veterans Hospital.

[2] Space was allocated for 845 beds, but proximity to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport meant the building was also restricted to a height of four stories.

The Minneapolis VAHCS has been a participant in the Veterans Health Administration's rollout of the patient aligned care team (PACT) model of healthcare delivery.

[6] When needed, PACTs interface with additional providers assigned to their teams such as clinical pharmacists, social workers, dietitians, physical therapists, and integrated behavioral health specialists.

[1] It accepts both active duty military service members and veterans with traumatic brain injury, blindness and amputation for rehabilitation.

The SCI/D Center provides comprehensive rehabilitation services for spinal cord and other related injuries among to return veterans to increased independent functioning.

The Minneapolis VAHCS also provides services to veterans through a network of community based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) in the greater Twin Cities metro area, rural Minnesota, and Western Wisconsin.

[9][10] Their eventual donation of over $1 million was matched by the University of Minnesota Medical School for the creation of the American Legion Chair position and Brain Sciences Center.

The Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) was established in 1978 as a specialty program addressing dementia concerns among aging veterans across the VISN23 VA Midwest Health Care Network.

These include research and development of prosthetic and orthotic devices, wheelchairs, adaptive exercise equipment, eye tracking, and mobile healthcare tools.