St. Louis Reporter

The St. Louis, MO VA Medical Center, subsidiary 657 in St. Louis, Missouri, scheduled 23,234 pending appointments during the period ending August 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 21,725 had a wait time of 30 days or less (93.5%) and 1,509 appointments (6.5%) 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 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	23,234	21,725	1,509
657A0	St. Louis	14,867	14,270	597
657GB	Florissant	2,953	2,937	16
657GD	O'Fallon	2,532	2,507	25
657GA	Shiloh	2,465	2,333	132
657QA	St. Louis	2,160	2,133	27
657GY	Manchester Avenue	1,164	1,141	23
657GX	St. Louis	1,083	1,061	22
657GS	Washington	1,000	988	12
657BU	St. Louis	114	114	0
657QB	Washington Boulevard	87	87	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration