Oakland City Wire

The VA Northern California Health Care System, subsidiary 612BY in Oakland, California scheduled 6,822 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, 6,291 had a wait time of 30 days or less (92.2%) and 531 appointments (7.8%) 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 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
612A4	Sacramento	45,356	41,075	4,281
612GF	Martinez	20,917	18,511	2,406
612GH	McClellan Park	19,797	18,710	1,087
612B4	Redding	10,219	9,240	979
612GG	Chico	8,661	8,331	330
612BY	Oakland	6,822	6,291	531
612GE	Mare Island	6,406	6,181	225
612GD	Fairfield	4,658	4,411	247
612QC	Cypress Avenue	3,635	3,339	296
612GI	Yuba City	2,402	2,328	74
612QB	Oakland	1,581	1,469	112
612GJ	Yreka	412	335	77
612MA	IDES McClellan OPC	9	9	0
612QD	Howe Road	4	4	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration