Lake County Times

The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 541GF in Willoughby, Ohio, scheduled 8,581 pending appointments during the period ending November 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 8,121 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.6%) and 460 appointments (5.4%) 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
541	Cleveland	54,193	49,021	5,172
541GL	Parma	22,312	19,721	2,591
541GG	Akron	19,431	17,693	1,738
541BY	Canton	12,679	12,282	397
541BZ	Youngstown	11,055	10,420	635
541GB	Lorain	10,334	9,831	503
541GD	Mansfield	10,164	9,991	173
541GF	Willoughby	8,581	8,121	460
541GC	Sandusky	6,560	5,709	851
541GI	Warren	4,385	4,064	321
541GH	East Liverpool	4,065	3,920	145
541GJ	New Philadelphia	3,950	3,764	186
541GK	Ravenna	3,775	3,609	166
541QB	Cleveland	1,097	1,094	3
541QF	Cuyahoga County 4	285	215	70
541GM	Cleveland	43	40	3

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration