The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the VA is failing to provide veterans with appointments for specialty medical care in a timely manner.
The VA in 2018 implemented recommendations from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to speed up the time it takes for a veteran to see a specialty care provider both at a VA facility or a provider in the community.
The VA’s standards call for veterans to see a VA specialist within three days of a referral or a provider outside of the VA within seven days.
The GAO found that standard was met about 85 percent of the time for appointments within the VA system. That’s compared to about 70 percent for community care appointments.
The GAO said the VA has for years struggled to schedule appointments for the roughly six million veterans it serves in a timely manner.
A bill introduced in Congress earlier this year seeks to expand the availability of community care for veterans to give them better access to specialty care.
