St. Louis Reporter

The St. Louis, MO VA Medical Center, subsidiary 657GX in St. Louis, Missouri scheduled 1,814 pending appointments during the period ending June 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 1,805 had a wait time of 30 days or less (99.5%) and nine appointments (0.5%) 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
657	St. Louis	27,734	26,765	969
657A0	St. Louis	14,042	13,714	328
657GB	Florissant	3,489	3,484	5
657GA	Shiloh	3,214	3,141	73
657GD	O'Fallon	2,896	2,884	12
657QA	St. Louis	2,775	2,761	14
657GY	Manchester Avenue	1,879	1,855	24
657GX	St. Louis	1,814	1,805	9
657GS	Washington	1,208	1,166	42
657BU	St. Louis	72	72	0
657QB	Washington Boulevard	27	27	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration