Youngstown Times

The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 541GH in East Liverpool, Ohio scheduled 4,350 pending appointments during the period ending October 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 4,300 had a wait time of 30 days or less (98.9%) and 50 appointments (1.2%) 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
541	Cleveland	62,786	59,934	2,852
541GL	Parma	24,999	23,218	1,781
541GG	Akron	17,840	16,843	997
541BY	Canton	16,490	15,770	720
541GD	Mansfield	13,222	13,035	187
541BZ	Youngstown	11,699	11,400	299
541GF	Willoughby	10,869	10,590	279
541GB	Lorain	10,669	10,490	179
541GC	Sandusky	7,360	7,156	204
541GK	Ravenna	5,696	5,386	310
541GJ	New Philadelphia	4,633	4,551	82
541GH	East Liverpool	4,350	4,300	50
541GI	Warren	3,819	3,624	195
541GE	Cleveland	1,368	1,265	103
541QB	Cleveland	1,132	1,129	3
541QF	Cuyahoga County 4	376	327	49
541GM	Cleveland	26	23	3

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration