Wine Country Times

The San Francisco VA Medical Center, subsidiary 662GD in Ukiah, California, scheduled 724 pending appointments during the period ending October 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 680 had a wait time of 30 days or less (93.9%) and 44 appointments (6.1%) 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
662	San Francisco	24,858	21,170	3,688
662GA	Santa Rosa	4,871	4,056	815
662GC	Eureka	1,732	1,593	139
662GG	Clearlake	1,484	1,382	102
662GE	San Bruno	782	740	42
662GD	Ukiah	724	680	44
662GF	San Francisco	583	566	17

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration