Mansfield Times

The Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, subsidiary 541GD in Mansfield, Ohio scheduled 9,267 pending appointments during the period ending June 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 9,208 had a wait time of 30 days or less (99.4%) and 59 appointments (0.6%) 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
541	Cleveland	40,819	37,511	3,308
541GL	Parma	20,530	17,705	2,825
541GG	Akron	16,358	13,632	2,726
541BY	Canton	12,566	12,130	436
541GB	Lorain	9,733	9,396	337
541BZ	Youngstown	9,423	9,211	212
541GD	Mansfield	9,267	9,208	59
541GF	Willoughby	9,088	8,432	656
541GC	Sandusky	6,071	5,001	1,070
541GJ	New Philadelphia	4,207	3,901	306
541GH	East Liverpool	4,043	3,574	469
541GK	Ravenna	3,582	3,429	153
541GI	Warren	2,512	2,364	148
541QB	Cleveland	755	754	1
541QF	Cuyahoga County 4	282	110	172
541GE	Cleveland	49	48	1

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration