The announcement is part of the VA's efforts to realign the Veterans Integrated Service Network 12, which serves veterans in Michigan's Upper Peninsula as well as Northern Illinois, Wisconsin and a portion of Indiana. The decisions are the culmination of the VA's Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services study that began in October 2000. According to the VA, "CARES will enhance VA medical services by identifying means to provide appropriate care closer to veterans' homes and to protect qualitywhile expanding access by ensuring that VA's limited resources are used formedical care rather than supporting underutilized or redundant infrastructure."

Without the Iron Mountain facility, veterans in the Upper Peninsula would have been forced to travel hundreds of miles for in-patient care.