Overall, across established and new patients, VA wait times are actually not that out of line with other types of hospitals.
Highlights from the June 2014 VA wait time data,
Average VA wait time across hospitals and specialities: 22.78 days.
96% of VA patients have a wait time of 30 days or less to see a physician (significantly less for established patients (most less than 4 days))
Nearly 85% of 141 VA hospitals in the data have wait times less than 30 days
Longer wait times are concentrated in 15 out of 141 VA hospitals
In comparison, Merrit Hawkins 2014 study on hospital wait times for non-VA hospitals finds:
– Finds 18.5 day avg. wait times for all medical specialties, which is about 4 days shorter than wait times at VA hospitals
– Wait times vary significantly by location