Baltimore City Wire

The VA Maryland Health Care System, subsidiary 512 in Baltimore, Maryland scheduled 40,836 pending appointments during the period ending January 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 34,767 had a wait time of 30 days or less (85.1%) and 6,069 appointments (14.9%) 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
512	Baltimore	40,836	34,767	6,069
512A5	Perry Point	7,376	6,647	729
512GD	Baltimore	4,579	4,251	328
512GA	Cambridge	4,463	4,345	118
512GC	Glen Burnie	3,396	3,279	117
512GG	Fort Meade	2,289	2,039	250
512GF	Rosedale	1,472	1,438	34
512GE	Pocomoke City	884	864	20
512QA	Baltimore West Fayette Street	690	682	8
512PA	512PA	408	324	84

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration