Healthcare Inspection – Evaluation of Reported Wait Times, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, California

OIG evaluated the accuracy of reported wait times at VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, for January and March 2015, at the request of Senator David Vitter. Specifically, our objectives were to: Evaluate whether information presented in a February 3, 2016, letter from Secretary Robert A. McDonald to Senator Vitter (Secretary’s letter) accurately represented wait times at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System; Explain the discrepancies between reported wait times in the Secretary’s letter and what CNN reported on March 14, 2015. VHA generates a number of measures that collectively provide a comprehensive view of appointment wait times. To avoid the perception of misrepresentation of wait times, it is imperative that VA, the media, and others clearly indicate both the source of the data and the type of wait time measure being referenced. We that found the wait times reported in the Secretary’s letter were generally consistent with VHA’s historical wait time data. With respect to the January 2015 completed appointment wait times for new and established patients, we noted differences of less than 1 day between the two data sources. We concluded that those small differences are likely due to the fact that the information used in the Secretary’s letter was from February 5, 2015, and wait time data were not finalized in VA’s centralized data repository until February 14, 2015. With respect to the March 2015 completed appointment wait times for new patients for primary care, those data were consistent with VHA’s historical wait time data. We found that discrepancies between information contained in the Secretary’s letter and CNN’s article were likely the result of (a) the CNN authors’ inaccurate assertion that appointments and consults are synonymous and (b) the Secretary and CNN authors referenced different wait time measures. We made no recommendations.