The VA Phoenix Health Care System, subsidiary 644BY in Gilbert, Arizona scheduled 22,649 pending appointments in August compared to 22,703 the previous month, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran s Affairs.
Of the total number of appointments, 21,771 had a wait time of 30 days or less (96.1%) and 878 appointments (3.9%) 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.
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The latest example of the cancel culture is a Virginia judge’s ruling that a Black defendant cannot get a fair trial in a courtroom decorated overwhelmingly with portraits of White judges. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard ordered that the paintings be removed for the upcoming trial of a man charged with assaulting a police officer and other crimes.
As if the defendant is unaware that the vast majority of Americans are White, the judge said in an opinion, “The court is concerned the portraits may serve as unintended but implicit symbols that suggest the courtroom may be a place historically administered by whites for whites, and that thus others are of a lesser standing in the dispensing of justice.”