WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs announced improved wait times for new patient appointments in primary care and mental health care across the VA health care system.
For new patients in April 2024, there was an 11% decrease in average wait times for VA primary care and a 7% decrease in average mental health wait times compared to same time last year. These improved wait times come at a time when VA is delivering more care to more Veterans than ever before. Compared to the same time period last year (which was a record-breaking year for appointments), VA completed 11% more new patient appointments – including nearly 13% more new patient mental health appointments.
VA and the entire Biden-Harris administration are committed to providing all Veterans with the timely, world-class care they deserve. Veteran trust in VA outpatient care is currently at 91.8% – an all-time high – and more than 400,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA care over the past year, which is a 30% increase over last year. Additionally, VA has recently outperformed non-VA care in peer reviewed studies, hospital ratings, and patient satisfaction surveys.
“Whenever a Veteran chooses VA for their care, we want them to know that we are going to take care of them – and we’re going to get them in for an appointment as quickly as possible,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “That’s the standard to which we hold ourselves, and we’ll never settle for anything less.”’
“We’re reducing wait times for patients, even at a time when we’re delivering more care to more Veterans than ever before,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D. “VA is the only national health care institution in America that publishes its wait times, and we do so to ensure we are fully transparent with Veterans and earn their trust. A shorter wait time for care makes a difference in a Veteran’s life, and we will continue to build on the progress we’ve made to reduce wait times even further.”
These reduced wait times show continued improvement after VA’s recent Access Sprints – a nationwide effort to offer more night clinics, weekend clinics, and appointment slots in daily clinic schedules. Additional results from the access sprints include (all data from October 2023 to February 2024):
VA completed approximately 25,000 more new patient appointments, an increase of 11% compared to the same period last year