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Friday, November 1, 2024

VA Miami HCS facilities schedule 107,535 medical appointments in August 2019

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The VA Miami Health Care System Florida scheduled 107,535 pending appointments across its nine locations during the period ending August 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments 97,494 had a wait time of 30 days or less (90.66%) and 10,041 appointments (9.34%) were scheduled more than 30 days out.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in January 2019 reported 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 cautioning 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.

Debra Draper, health care director at the GAO, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee new patients may actually wait up to 70 days for an appointment when they first enroll for benefits.

The VA explains 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 don’t have service-connected disabilities and who earn a higher income are placed in the lower priority groups.

VA Miami Health Care System Pending Appointments Scheduled in August
LocationTotal Appointments ScheduledAppointments Scheduled 30 Days or LessAppointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
Miami, FL (Bruce W. Carter)56,55349,6536,900
Sunrise, FL (William "Bill" Kling)35,16332,5672,596
Miami Flagler, FL71710
Key West, FL1,7801,75921
Homestead, FL5,0704,800270
Pembroke Pines, FL2,7372,602135
Key Largo, FL91789027
Hollywood, FL3,3723,28884
Deerfield Beach, FL1,8721,8648

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