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Thursday, March 28, 2024

VA reports decrease in number of appointments at Fayetteville VAMC health facility in Jacksonville (565GA) in August

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The Fayetteville VA Medical Center, subsidiary 565GA in Jacksonville, North Carolina scheduled 5,707 pending appointments in August compared to 5,863 the previous month, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 5,512 had a wait time of 30 days or less (96.6%) and 195 appointments (3.4%) 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.

At a hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee after the report was released, Debra Draper, health care director at the GAO, said new patients may actually wait up to 70 days for an appointment when they first enroll for benefits.

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

Fayetteville VA Medical Center Appointments Scheduled in August vs. July

Facility Code
Location
Total Appointments Scheduled in August
Total Appointments Scheduled in July
Percent change in number of appointments
565
Fayetteville, NC
18,618
24,835
-25%
565GA
Jacksonville-Henderson Drive, NC
5,707
5,863
-2.7%
565GC
Wilmington, NC
23,825
23,906
-0.3%
565GD
Hamlet, NC
2,876
2,776
3.6%
565GE
Robeson County, NC
3,229
3,248
-0.6%
565GF
Goldsboro, NC
3,656
3,529
3.6%
565GG
Lee County, NC
4,253
4,105
3.6%
565GH
Brunswick County, NC
2,032
2,058
-1.3%
565GJ
Jacksonville 2, NC
1,545
1,501
2.9%
565GL
Cumberland County, NC
72,228
67,161
7.5%
565GM
Jacksonville 3, NC
1,723
1,830
-5.8%
565QA
Robeson Street, NC
711
558
27.4%
565QD
Raeford Road, NC
796
801
-0.6%

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration

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