Lake County Times

The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 541GF in Willoughby, Ohio, scheduled 8,573 pending appointments during the period ending September 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 8,076 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.2%) and 497 appointments (5.8%) 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	47,334	43,037	4,297
541GL	Parma	19,930	17,553	2,377
541GG	Akron	17,396	15,381	2,015
541BY	Canton	12,167	11,663	504
541BZ	Youngstown	9,912	9,551	361
541GD	Mansfield	9,781	9,575	206
541GB	Lorain	9,233	8,908	325
541GF	Willoughby	8,573	8,076	497
541GC	Sandusky	6,202	5,136	1,066
541GH	East Liverpool	3,959	3,767	192
541GJ	New Philadelphia	3,901	3,684	217
541GI	Warren	3,460	3,212	248
541GK	Ravenna	3,363	3,223	140
541QB	Cleveland	1,112	1,108	4
541QF	Cuyahoga County 4	276	216	60
541GM	Cleveland	62	60	2

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration