The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General recently reviewed the timeliness of community mental health care appointments for Veterans.
Many Veterans referred outside the VA for mental health treatment are receiving appointments within the 30-day timeframe, but a watchdog report found that scheduling delays continue to create longer waits for some patients.
The VA Office of Inspector General reviewed mental health community care appointments across 133 VA health care systems and found that about 80 percent occurred within 30 days. Veterans whose appointments exceeded that timeframe waited an average of 56 days before receiving care.
The review, released Aug. 10, examined appointments during fiscal year 2025. Community care allows eligible Veterans––typically in more rural areas––to receive treatment from non-VA providers when certain requirements are met, with VA covering the authorized care.
The VA calls for community care consults to be processed within seven days. Notably, the standard measures how quickly the VA schedules the referral, while the 30-day measure looks at when the Veteran actually receives the appointment. A Veteran could still receive care within 30 days even if the scheduling process takes longer than expected.
Only five of the 133 health care systems reviewed met that standard on average, and scheduling problems played a role in the roughly 20% of mental health community care appointments that took longer than 30 days.
VA staff sometimes relied on telephone calls and mailed letters when trying to reach Veterans, slowing the process in some cases. Staff also reported difficulty contacting community providers, while some providers could not meet Veterans’ preferences for appointment type or method of care.
The findings are significant for mental health referrals because delays can leave Veterans waiting weeks for treatment when timely care may be critical. The VA inspector general described Veterans seeking community mental health services as a vulnerable population and emphasized reducing the time between referral and treatment.
Nearly 198,000 mental health referrals were made for community care during the period examined.
The inspector general issued six recommendations to improve the process, including better ways to contact Veterans, improving systems for identifying available community providers, reviewing access to in-person and telehealth care, and strengthening communication between VA and outside providers. Two recommendations were considered completed when the report was released, while four remained open.
Author: Rikki Almanza
Rikki is a Web Content Coordinator for the American Legion, Department of California. With a deep-rooted family connection to the military, Rikki is committed to using her skills and knowledge to provide valuable assistance and resources to servicemembers and veterans.
