Northeast Montana News

The VA Montana Health Care System Montana scheduled 16,913 pending appointments across its locations during the period ending December 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments 16,010 had a wait time of 30 days or less (94.66%) and 903 appointments (5.34%) were scheduled more than 30 days out.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in January 2019 reported 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 cautioning 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.

Debra Draper, health care director at the GAO, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee new patients may actually wait up to 70 days for an appointment when they first enroll for benefits.

The VA explains 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	Appointments Scheduled 30 Days or Less	Appointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
Fort Harrison, MT	5,042	4,697	345
Miles City CLC, MT	277	277	0
Anaconda, MT	433	429	4
Great Falls, MT	1,132	1,097	35
Missoula, MT (David J. Thatcher)	2,051	1,978	73
Bozeman, MT	1,083	1,051	32
Kalispell, MT	1,769	1,724	45
Billings Majestic Lane, MT (Benjamin Charles Steele)	2,279	2,050	229
Glasgow, MT	130	125	5
Glendive, MT	53	52	1
Cut Bank, MT	152	152	0
Lewistown, MT	155	150	5
Billings Spring Creek Lane, MT \(Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow)	1,541	1,454	87
Havre, MT (Merril Lundman)	175	167	8
Hamilton, MT	314	310	4
Plentywood, MT	22	22	0
Helena, MT	305	275	30