Sacramento Standard

The VA Northern California Health Care System, subsidiary 612A4 in Sacramento, California scheduled 44,671 pending appointments during the period ending January 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 40,626 had a wait time of 30 days or less (90.9%) and 4,045 appointments (9.1%) 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
612A4	Sacramento	44,671	40,626	4,045
612GF	Martinez	20,057	17,579	2,478
612GH	McClellan Park	18,672	17,668	1,004
612B4	Redding	9,107	7,814	1,293
612GG	Chico	8,266	7,947	319
612GE	Mare Island	6,486	6,307	179
612BY	Oakland	6,156	5,684	472
612GD	Fairfield	4,499	4,218	281
612QC	Cypress Avenue	3,510	3,103	407
612GI	Yuba City	2,703	2,662	41
612QB	Oakland	1,404	1,240	164
612GJ	Yreka	429	373	56
612QD	Howe Road	36	36	0
612MA	IDES McClellan OPC	22	22	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration