Pursuit's Take
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit from January 2017 – December 2017 at VA medical facilities in Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas. The report found that 18 percent of new patients waited longer than 30 days for care. Of that 18 percent, the average wait time was 53 days. However, the VA’s scheduling system only showed 10 percent of new patients waited longer than 30 days. This was because “staff did not correctly record clinically indicated dates for about 5,300 of approximately 13,9006 new patient appointments (38 percent) they scheduled.”
“Overall, the approximately 13,900 new patient appointments had an average wait time of about 18 days. For those 2,500 appointments greater than 30 days, the OIG estimated that veterans waited an average of 53 days.”
Read the full report