South Tidewater News

The Hampton VA Medical Center, subsidiary 590GB in Virginia Beach, Virginia scheduled 11,039 pending appointments during the period ending March 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 10,304 had a wait time of 30 days or less (93.3%) and 735 appointments (6.7%) were scheduled more than 30 days out.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in January 2019 reported that wait times for new appointments at VA health care facilities were similar to or better than wait times at private-sector providers between 2014 and 2017.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), however, released a report in July 2019 that cautioned that the VA's data-tracking system only captures part of the appointment process and fails to account for the time that it takes the VA to enroll veterans in its health benefits program.

The VA explains on its website that when veterans apply for benefits, they are assigned to one of eight priority groups, with those who need immediate care due to service-related disabilities placed in higher priority groups. Veterans who do not have service-connected disabilities and who earn a higher income are placed in the lower priority groups.

Facility Code	Location	Total Appointments Scheduled	Appointments Scheduled 30 Days or Less	Appointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
590	Hampton	78,739	67,723	11,016
590GB	Virginia Beach	11,039	10,304	735
590GD	Chesapeake	6,909	6,736	173
590GC	Albemarle	2,673	2,653	20
590MB	IDES Langley	126	4	122
590MA	IDES Portsmouth	107	9	98
590MC	IDES Fort Eustis	101	53	48
590BU	Hampton	6	6	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration