Wine Country Times

The San Francisco VA Medical Center, subsidiary 662GG in Clearlake, California, scheduled 1,436 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, 1,316 had a wait time of 30 days or less (91.6%) and 120 appointments (8.4%) 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
662	San Francisco	25,155	21,614	3,541
662GA	Santa Rosa	4,931	4,164	767
662GC	Eureka	1,722	1,584	138
662GG	Clearlake	1,436	1,316	120
662GE	San Bruno	756	726	30
662GD	Ukiah	646	587	59
662GF	San Francisco	530	516	14

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration