Yellowstone Times

The VA Montana Health Care System scheduled 50,557 pending appointments across its 16 locations in December 2019 compared to 41,227 the same month the previous year, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments in December 2019, 46,625 had a wait time of 30 days or less (92.2%) and 3,932 appointments (7.8%) 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.

Location	Total Appointments Scheduled in December 2019	Total Appointments Scheduled in December 2018	Percent change in number of appointments
Fort Harrison	16,084	15,755	2.1%
Miles City	349	330	5.8%
Anaconda	1,806	1,665	8.5%
Great Falls	2,691	2,271	18.5%
Missoula	7,188	6,600	8.9%
Bozeman	1,719	1,339	28.4%
Kalispell	5,411	3,659	47.9%
Billings	6,784	7,314	-7.2%
Glasgow	181	269	-32.7%
Glendive	254	196	29.6%
Cut Bank	195	190	2.6%
Lewistown	481	321	49.8%
Havre	295	289	2.1%
Hamilton	1,304	239	445.6%
Plentywood	37	60	-38.3%
Helena	1,608	726	121.5%

Source: U.S. Veteran’s Administration