Las Vegas City Wire

The VA Southern Nevada Health Care System, subsidiary 593 in North Las Vegas, Nevada scheduled 77,190 pending appointments during the period ending March 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 64,354 had a wait time of 30 days or less (83.4%) and 12,836 appointments (16.6%) 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.

Facility Code	Location	Total Appointments Scheduled	Appointments Scheduled 30 Days or Less	Appointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
593	North Las Vegas	77,190	64,354	12,836
593GD	Las Vegas	13,849	13,530	319
593GE	Las Vegas	13,708	13,281	427
593GF	Southwest Las Vegas	13,025	12,638	387
593GG	Las Vegas	8,503	8,387	116
593GC	Pahrump	2,966	2,951	15
593GH	Laughlin	1,663	1,591	72
593QC	West Cheyenne	260	260	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration