Union News

The Fayetteville VA Medical Center, subsidiary 565GD in Hamlet, North Carolina, scheduled 1,719 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, 1,648 had a wait time of 30 days or less (95.9%) and 71 appointments (4.1%) 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
565GL	Fayetteville	54,778	46,101	8,677
565GC	Wilmington	19,231	17,293	1,938
565	Fayetteville	12,520	10,707	1,813
565GA	Jacksonville	3,736	3,627	109
565GG	Sanford	3,391	3,286	105
565GF	Goldsboro	2,896	2,817	79
565GH	Holden Beach	2,273	2,239	34
565GE	Pembroke	2,244	2,169	75
565GD	Hamlet	1,719	1,648	71
565GM	Jacksonville	1,455	1,378	77
565GJ	Jacksonville	929	927	2
565QA	Fayetteville	584	516	68
565QD	Fayetteville	488	426	62

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration