San Francisco Sun

The San Francisco VA Medical Center, subsidiary 662 in San Francisco, California scheduled 37,884 pending appointments during the period ending March 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 33,537 had a wait time of 30 days or less (88.5%) and 4,347 appointments (11.5%) 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 who 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	37,884	33,537	4,347
662GA	Santa Rosa	11,486	9,660	1,826
662GC	Eureka	3,579	2,899	680
662GG	Clearlake	2,387	2,268	119
662GE	San Bruno	1,520	1,426	94
662GD	Ukiah	1,124	993	131
662GF	San Francisco	726	675	51

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration