Fayetteville Standard

The VA of the Ozarks Health Care System, subsidiary 564 in Fayetteville, Arkansas scheduled 28,047 pending appointments during the period ending April 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 26,456 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.3%) and 1,591 appointments (5.7%) 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
564	Fayetteville	28,047	26,456	1,591
564BY	Springfield	21,664	20,953	711
564GC	Branson	7,108	6,893	215
564GB	Fort Smith	4,562	4,249	313
564GF	Joplin	4,144	3,987	157
564GA	Harrison	1,332	1,326	6
564GE	Jay	1,096	1,090	6
564GD	Ozark	732	606	126
564QB	Sunbridge	277	242	35
564QA	Township	1	0	1

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration