Baltimore City Wire

The VA Maryland Health Care System, subsidiary 512 in Baltimore, Maryland, scheduled 27,490 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, 23,280 had a wait time of 30 days or less (84.7%) and 4,210 appointments (15.3%) 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 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	27,490	23,280	4,210
512A5	Perry Point	4,788	4,555	233
512GD	Baltimore	2,941	2,816	125
512GA	Cambridge	2,419	2,359	60
512GC	Glen Burnie	1,521	1,490	31
512GF	Rosedale	884	879	5
512GG	Fort Meade	728	655	73
512GE	Pocomoke City	579	550	29
512QA	Baltimore West Fayette Street	347	341	6
512PA	512PA	2	1	1

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration