Lake County Times

The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 541GF in Willoughby, Ohio, scheduled 8,662 pending appointments during the period ending August 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 8,165 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.3%) and 497 appointments (5.7%) 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
541	Cleveland	45,711	41,802	3,909
541GL	Parma	20,035	18,013	2,022
541GG	Akron	17,188	14,937	2,251
541BY	Canton	12,410	11,917	493
541BZ	Youngstown	9,738	9,513	225
541GD	Mansfield	9,562	9,457	105
541GB	Lorain	9,457	9,110	347
541GF	Willoughby	8,662	8,165	497
541GC	Sandusky	6,093	5,072	1,021
541GJ	New Philadelphia	4,072	3,824	248
541GH	East Liverpool	4,061	3,797	264
541GK	Ravenna	3,403	3,270	133
541GI	Warren	2,901	2,810	91
541QB	Cleveland	630	628	2
541QF	Cuyahoga County 4	285	218	67
541GM	Cleveland	12	12	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration