Portage Times

The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 541GK in Ravenna, Ohio scheduled 5,573 pending appointments during the period ending December 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 5,268 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.5%) and 305 appointments (5.5%) 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
541	Cleveland	62,609	59,064	3,545
541GL	Parma	25,303	23,444	1,859
541GG	Akron	18,636	17,755	881
541BY	Canton	16,613	16,029	584
541GD	Mansfield	13,387	13,133	254
541BZ	Youngstown	11,786	11,403	383
541GF	Willoughby	11,004	10,736	268
541GB	Lorain	10,855	10,744	111
541GC	Sandusky	7,496	7,256	240
541GK	Ravenna	5,573	5,268	305
541GJ	New Philadelphia	4,581	4,486	95
541GH	East Liverpool	4,510	4,468	42
541GI	Warren	3,923	3,785	138
541GE	Cleveland	1,286	1,264	22
541QB	Cleveland	1,044	1,038	6
541QF	Cuyahoga County 4	373	327	46
541GM	Cleveland	55	46	9
541QA	Summit County	3	3	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration