Oakland City Wire

The VA Northern California Health Care System, subsidiary 612BY in Oakland, California scheduled 4,547 pending appointments during the period ending May 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 4,043 had a wait time of 30 days or less (88.9%) and 504 appointments (11.1%) 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	34,250	30,672	3,578
612GF	Martinez	16,928	14,607	2,321
612GH	McClellan Park	15,535	13,744	1,791
612B4	Redding	7,666	6,929	737
612GG	Chico	7,153	6,605	548
612GE	Mare Island	4,803	4,476	327
612BY	Oakland	4,547	4,043	504
612GD	Fairfield	3,464	3,255	209
612QC	Cypress Avenue	2,646	2,139	507
612GI	Yuba City	1,963	1,884	79
612QB	Oakland	1,395	1,313	82
612GJ	Yreka	392	339	53
612QA	Cohasset	3	2	1

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration