Vero Beach Healthcare Guide

The hospital serving Vero Beach is Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital at 1000 36th Street, Vero Beach, FL 32960, main number 772.567.4311.

The Vero Beach campus hosts three named programs, the Welsh Heart Center, the Scully-Welsh Cancer Center and the Rosner Family Health and Wellness Center, and business hours vary by specialty and service (Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital). The page header also lists a Cleveland Clinic Florida line for additional assistance, 877.463.2010.

The emergency department is the part of Indian River Hospital that is changing now. Cleveland Clinic is renovating and expanding it with 20 new treatment spaces, work it expects to finish in late 2026, and will then add eight more treatment rooms and renovate the main emergency department entrance and lobby, keeping emergency services open throughout (Indian River Hospital).

The Indian River County Hospital District, governed by seven publicly elected trustees, took control of the Vero Beach hospital in 1959, has leased it to a separate operator since 1984 and funds care for uninsured county residents.

The first hospital in Indian River County opened in 1932 as a private institution owned and operated by Garnett L. Radin, a registered nurse living in Vero Beach, with 21 beds and 5 bassinets (Indian River County Hospital District history). A special act of the 1959 Florida Legislature created the Hospital District and its seven elected trustees, who took control of the hospital. In 1984 the trustees leased it to Indian River Memorial Hospital, Inc., a community not-for-profit, and began paying for care for underserved residents; the hospital is now Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital.

The district office is at 1705 19th Place, Suite G3, Vero Beach, phone 772-770-0935. Its 2026 schedule sets the remaining regular monthly meetings for October 15, November 19 and December 17 at 4 p.m., each with a chairman's meeting the day before, plus a special meeting on October 22 at 9 a.m. (Hospital District meeting schedule). Unpaid care is a standing issue between the district, which owns the hospital property, and the hospital: Cleveland Clinic reported caring for more than 12,000 patients who were unable to pay in 2023, nearly double the 2019 number, at a cost above $17 million (Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, December 17, 2024).

Uninsured Indian River County residents at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level can get no-cost primary care through the Hospital District's Financial Assistance Program, starting with a call to Treasure Coast Community Health or Whole Family Health Center.

To qualify, an applicant must be a current Indian River County resident, meet the income guideline and have no health insurance (Hospital District Financial Assistance Program). The first step is to call one of two intake agencies: Treasure Coast Community Health at (772) 257-8224, asking for a Health Navigator, or Whole Family Health Center at (772) 345-9342, asking for an Intake Specialist. That staff member then completes the application and books the first appointment.

The practical tip for Vero Beach applicants is to gather the two residency documents before calling, because both must show a current date within the last nine months, and the Health Navigator or Intake Specialist keeps copies of every form needed at the first meeting (IRCHD program page).

Vero Beach has two VA sites: the Indian River VA Clinic at 777 37th Street, a multi-specialty clinic that opened March 27, 2026, and the Vero Beach VA Clinic at 372 17th Street for primary care.

The West Palm Beach VA Healthcare System called the Indian River VA Clinic the first-ever multi-specialty clinic in Vero Beach when it opened on March 27, 2026, and said full operations were anticipated by Summer 2026 (VA press release, March 27, 2026). The clinic is open weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Buildings A, B and C at 777 37th Street (Indian River VA Clinic).

That summer target has slipped. On October 14, 2026 the Indian River VA Clinic page listed phase 1 (physical therapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic) and part of phase 2 (audiology, podiatry, respiratory) as open, with cardiology, dermatology, neurology, prosthetics, pulmonary, urology and blood draw still in progress and dental and optometry set for Fall 2026 (Indian River VA Clinic). Veterans in Vero Beach should check the page before booking a specialty that is not yet open.

The Vero Beach VA Clinic at 372 17th Street offers primary care, mental health care, nutrition services and social work, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Vero Beach VA Clinic). For benefits paperwork rather than appointments, Indian River County Veterans Services has a Vero Beach office at 2525 St. Lucie Avenue, (772) 226-1395, by appointment Monday through Friday, with walk-ins on Wednesdays for concerns of 30 minutes or less (Indian River County Veterans Services). The Indian River VA Clinic guide covers the new clinic in depth.

The Florida Department of Health in Indian River County, at 1900 27th St. in Vero Beach (772-794-7400), handles public health services such as WIC, disease reporting, rabies and animal bite reports and birth certificates.

The department also runs a Wabasso satellite site at 8445 64th Ave., Wabasso (772-794-7480), and keeps a nurse on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week (DOH-Indian River). Disease reports and animal bite or rabies calls go to 772-794-7472, and Florida birth certificates from 1930 to the present can be ordered through the department (Florida Department of Health in Indian River County). Its WIC program offers nutrition education and breastfeeding support at no cost to eligible Indian River County clients, and school health services are delivered with the local school district. The department posted a rabies alert for Indian River County effective September 24 to November 24, 2026.

The Vero Beach healthcare section has one deep guide today, the Indian River VA Clinic guide, and the table below sends every other common question to the office that answers it.

Sources for the table are the pages cited in each section above. Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the Cleveland Clinic, Indian River County Hospital District, VA and Florida Department of Health websites, for every Vero Beach address and phone number on this page.