North Coast Today

The Portland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 648GD in Warrenton, Oregon, scheduled 173 pending appointments during the period ending August 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 172 had a wait time of 30 days or less (99.4%) and one appointment (0.6%) was 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 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
648	Portland	32,629	27,943	4,686
648A4	Portland Vancouver	9,789	9,145	644
648GB	Salem	4,828	4,457	371
648GA	Bend	4,431	3,677	754
648GE	Fairview	2,405	2,327	78
648GF	Hillsboro	2,288	2,132	156
648GG	West Linn	1,990	1,911	79
648GJ	The Dalles	995	954	41
648GI	Portland	282	258	24
648GH	Newport	228	194	34
648GD	Warrenton	173	172	1
648BU	Vancouver	1	1	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration