South Pinellas Times

The VA Bay Pines Health Care System Florida scheduled 63,875 pending appointments across its nine locations during the period ending December 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments 59,666 had a wait time of 30 days or less (93.41%) and 4,209 appointments (6.59%) were scheduled more than 30 days out.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in January 2019 reported 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 cautioning 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.

Debra Draper, health care director at the GAO, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee new patients may actually wait up to 70 days for an appointment when they first enroll for benefits.

The VA explains 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.

Location	Total Appointments Scheduled	Appointments Scheduled 30 Days or Less	Appointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
Bay Pines, FL (C.W. Bill Young)	33,518	31,272	2,246
Lee County, FL	15,056	14,112	944
Sarasota, FL	2,963	2,766	197
St. Petersburg, FL	705	680	25
Palm Harbor, FL	2,299	2,239	60
Bradenton, FL	3,075	2,669	406
Port Charlotte, FL	2,557	2,325	232
Naples, FL	2,228	2,141	87
Sebring, FL	1,474	1,462	12