St. Paul Reporter

The VA Minneapolis Health Care System, subsidiary 618 in Minneapolis, Minnesota scheduled 72,360 pending appointments in August compared to 70,672 the previous month, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 66,617 had a wait time of 30 days or less (92.1%) and 5,743 appointments (7.9%) 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.

At a hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee after the report was released, Debra Draper, health care director at the GAO, said new patients may actually wait up to 70 days for an appointment when they first enroll for benefits.

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 don’t have service-connected disabilities and who earn a higher income are placed in the lower priority groups.

VA Minneapolis Health Care System Appointments Scheduled in August vs. August

Facility Code	Location	Total Appointments Scheduled in September	Total Appointments Scheduled in August	Percent change in number of appointments
618	Minneapolis, MN	72,360	70,672	2.4%
618GA	St. James, MN	229	213	7.5%
618GB	Hibbing, MN	1,351	1,272	6.2%
618GD	Maplewood, MN	3,063	3,021	1.4%
618GE	Chippewa Valley, WI	3,804	3,708	2.6%
618GG	Rochester, MN	3,051	3,031	0.7%
618GH	Hayward, WI	395	438	-9.8%
618GI	Northwest Metro, MN	9,116	9,091	0.3%
618GJ	Shakopee, MN	1,915	1,897	0.9%
618GK	Albert Lea, MN	762	838	-9.1%
618GL	Minneapolis Harmon Place, MN	338	318	6.3%
618GM	Rice Lake, WI	1,122	1,103	1.7%
618GN	Mankato, MN (Lyle C. Pearson)	2,018	2,044	-1.3%
618QB	Ely, MN	115	109	5.5%

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration