St. Louis Reporter

The St. Louis, MO VA Medical Center, subsidiary 657QA in St. Louis, Missouri, scheduled 3,811 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, 2,980 had a wait time of 30 days or less (78.2%) and 831 appointments (21.8%) 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	27,806	24,004	3,802
657A0	St. Louis	15,520	14,288	1,232
657QA	St. Louis	3,811	2,980	831
657GA	Shiloh	1,750	1,517	233
657GB	Florissant	1,710	1,682	28
657GD	O'Fallon	1,639	1,592	47
657GS	Washington	1,101	1,051	50
657GY	Manchester Avenue	817	788	29
657GX	St. Louis	766	689	77
657QB	Washington Boulevard	102	101	1
657BU	St. Louis	66	66	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration