South SFV Today

The VA Palo Alto Health Care System, subsidiary 640 in Palo Alto, California, scheduled 15,536 pending appointments during the period ending September 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 13,149 had a wait time of 30 days or less (84.6%) and 2,387 appointments (15.4%) 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 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
640	Palo Alto	15,536	13,149	2,387
640HC	Monterey	5,047	4,434	613
640A4	Livermore	4,624	3,575	1,049
640BY	San Jose	3,277	2,708	569
640HB	Modesto	1,853	1,696	157
640HA	Stockton	1,520	1,293	227
640A0	Menlo Park	1,190	1,093	97
640GB	Sonora	673	583	90
640GC	Fremont	432	387	45
640GA	Capitola	199	193	6

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration