{"id":158316,"date":"2026-08-11T18:12:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T18:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smg.go-vip.net\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2026\/08\/11\/majority-of-va-mental-health-visits-are-timely-but-referrals-lag-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:47:24","slug":"majority-of-va-mental-health-visits-are-timely-but-referrals-lag-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2026\/08\/11\/majority-of-va-mental-health-visits-are-timely-but-referrals-lag-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"Majority of VA mental health visits are timely, but referrals lag: Watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Editor\u2019s Note: This story was updated to include a statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roughly 80% of mental health appointments made in the Veterans Affairs\u2019 Community Care Program are scheduled within the department\u2019s 30-day wait-time standard, but VA schedulers still struggle to meet the seven-day requirement for making these appointments, the VA Office of Inspector General has found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA\u2019s watchdog evaluated mental health referrals for community care at 133 VA medical systems and found that just five met the seven-day metric for scheduling the appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the inspectors also found that despite those delays, 80% of the referrals received appointments within 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of those that didn\u2019t meet the requirement, the average wait time for an appointment was 56 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaoig.gov\/reports\/review\/review-timeliness-mental-health-community-care-appointments?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.vaoig.gov\/reports\/review\/review-timeliness-mental-health-community-care-appointments?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\">In the report released Monday,<\/a> OIG inspectors said the scheduling issues contributed to the delays in care, with staff often relying on telephone calls and postal mail to communicate with veterans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other roadblocks to timely referrals included providers not being available for the types of appointments veterans wanted and issues reaching providers, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delays in mental health consults are a problem because veterans who need the care may pose a risk to themselves and others without treatment, said Larry Reinkemeyer, assistant inspector general for audits and evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProcess improvements are needed to enable VA to meet its scheduling and appointment timeliness standards for mental health consults. Veterans who receive community care services for mental health consults represent a vulnerable group,\u201d Reinkemeyer wrote in the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the analysis, the OIG reviewed community care consults for mental health services from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025. More than 825,000 veterans received mental health treatment during that period, either directly from the VA \u2014 with more than 1 million consults to VA facilities \u2014 or 198,000 referrals for community care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The analysts found that when an appointment did not meet the 30-day metric, scheduling delays consumed much of that window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community care is the VA\u2019s program for veterans to receive medical services in the private sector with the cost covered by the VA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By law, the VA must refer veterans to community care if the wait time for a primary or mental health care appointment at a VA facility is more than 20 days or the drive time is longer than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also by law, appointments must occur within 30 days to ensure patients have access to care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/12\/17\/va-to-launch-largest-reorganization-of-health-care-system-in-30-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/12\/17\/va-to-launch-largest-reorganization-of-health-care-system-in-30-years\/\">in the process of reorganizing the management and structure of its medical arm, the Veterans Health Administration,<\/a> to include reducing the number of regional offices and streamlining the leadership framework. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reforms also will create a \u201cCommunity Care Hub\u201d designed to improve services to veterans by improving access to care, tracking payments and standardizing the referral\/consult process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA OIG made recommendations to improve the scheduling process, including: adjusting contracts for the companies that manage community care to ensure they can deliver timely care; evaluate its referral system to ensure that it follows best practices; improve its system for identifying available providers to ensure they can provide the care veterans want; and determine whether community care contractors can meet demand for in-person and tele health appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their response, VA officials said they have addressed several of the recommendations already and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/12\/15\/va-to-reorganize-community-care-contracts-reducing-regions-to-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/12\/15\/va-to-reorganize-community-care-contracts-reducing-regions-to-2\/\">expect its new Community Care Network contracts <\/a>to improve performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials also said they were engaging with providers, its contractors and others to identify gaps and address them. They also noted that they are reviewing best practices for reaching patients and working with facilities to ensure that their schedulers are able to communicate with veterans and providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe [Veterans Health Administration] greatly values the OIG\u2019s assistance in ensuring that all stakeholders are unified in supporting VHA\u2019s vision of providing all Veterans with access to the highest quality care,\u201d wrote John Bartrum, the department\u2019s former Under Secretary for Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA wants to remind veterans that same-day emergency mental health services are available at VA medical facilities as well as private emergency rooms at not cost to veterans \u2014 even if they aren\u2019t enrolled in VA healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The number of veterans who have received care under the Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit, provided under the Compact Act, has grew from 10,023 in fiscal 2023 to 15,218 in fiscal 2025, VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven told Military Times on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also helped 9,434 veterans in the first half of fiscal 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn FY25, VA covered a record-high $109,934,325 in acute suicide crisis care,\u201d Slaven said. \u201cVA employs several efforts to educate Veterans and non-VA emergency department staff about the availability of [Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit]. Importantly, once crisis stabilization care has been provided, VA will work with all relevant parties to ensure eligible Veterans don\u2019t get stuck with a bill.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The VA watchdog found that 80% of referrals for mental health services in the Community Care program were scheduled within 30 days. 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