East Indy News

The Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, subsidiary 583GG in Shelbyville, Indiana scheduled 697 pending appointments during the period ending May 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 680 had a wait time of 30 days or less (97.6%) and 17 appointments (2.4%) 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
583	Indianapolis	53,796	50,623	3,173
583GB	Bloomington	4,343	4,312	31
583GD	Indianapolis West	2,658	2,498	160
583GF	Edinburgh	1,549	1,493	56
583GA	Terre Haute	1,055	1,041	14
583GE	West Lafayette	983	957	26
583GG	Shelbyville	697	680	17
583QE	Cold Spring Road	688	688	0
583QC	Terre Haute	585	498	87
583QA	Bloomington	522	522	0
583QD	Indianapolis YMCA	377	365	12
583GC	Martinsville	281	281	0

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration