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Huntsville Leader

Friday, November 15, 2024

Birmingham VAMC facilities schedule 121,481 medical appointments in August 2019

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The Birmingham VA Medical Center Alabama scheduled 121,481 pending appointments across its locations during the period ending August 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments 115,043 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.7%) and 6,438 appointments (5.3%) were scheduled more than 30 days out.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in January 2019 reported 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 cautioning 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.

Debra Draper, health care director at the GAO, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee new patients may actually wait up to 70 days for an appointment when they first enroll for benefits.

The VA explains 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 don’t have service-connected disabilities and who earn a higher income are placed in the lower priority groups.

Birmingham VA Medical Center Pending Appointments Scheduled in August
LocationTotal Appointments ScheduledAppointments Scheduled 30 Days or LessAppointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
Birmingham, AL52,18447,7074,477
Huntsville, AL17,98617,206780
Sheffield, AL (Florence)5,1535,12330
Rainbow City, AL4,5364,5288
Oxford, AL5,4075,38720
Jasper, AL2,0932,04053
Bessemer, AL3,6073,490117
Childersburg, AL2,8282,8253
Guntersville, AL4,1084,1017
Birmingham-7th Avenue, AL14,58513,939646
Callahan, AL8,9948,697297

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