Baltimore City Wire

The VA Maryland Health Care System, subsidiary 512 in Baltimore, Maryland scheduled 41,578 pending appointments during the period ending September 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 35,089 had a wait time of 30 days or less (84.4%) and 6,489 appointments (15.6%) 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.

VA Maryland Health Care System Appointments Scheduled in August

Facility Code	Location	Total Appointments Scheduled	Appointments Scheduled 30 Days or Less	Appointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
512	Baltimore	41,578	35,089	6,489
512A5	Perry Point	7,922	7,275	647
512GD	Baltimore	5,690	5,379	311
512GA	Cambridge	5,021	4,756	265
512GC	Glen Burnie	2,910	2,751	159
512GG	Fort Meade	2,612	2,331	281
512GF	Rosedale	1,447	1,381	66
512GE	Pocomoke City	854	833	21
512QA	Baltimore West Fayette Street	685	674	11

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration