Louisville City Wire

The Robley Rex VA Medical Center, subsidiary 603GC in Shively, Kentucky scheduled 7,762 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, 7,733 had a wait time of 30 days or less (99.6%) and 29 appointments (0.4%) 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
603	Louisville	48,226	47,016	1,210
603GE	Newburg	9,060	8,957	103
603GC	Shively	7,762	7,733	29
603GA	Fort Knox	6,785	6,677	108
603GD	Stonybrook	5,921	5,890	31
603GF	Clarkson	5,313	5,273	40
603GB	New Albany	3,762	3,705	57
603GG	Scottsburg	3,187	3,169	18
603GH	Carrollton	622	620	2
603MA	IDES Fort Knox	39	39	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration