article_snippet: Los Angeles (CNN)Thousands of veterans who are patients at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have been waiting months just for an appointment, CNN has learned.
article_snippet: It is particularly significant as the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Medical Center is the nation's largest VA health care system, caring for hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans.
article_snippet: the Los Angeles VA's own internal documents obtained by CNN show more than 12,700 appointments, which the Los Angeles VA calls consults, had been waiting more than 90 days to be addressed, as of mid-January.
article_snippet: Even new patients seeking care at the Los Angeles VA for the first time can wait months to see a doctor there.
article_snippet: Records show on January 15, more than 1,600 veterans who were new patients were waiting 60 to 90 days for appointments.
article_snippet: Another 400 veterans have waited up to six months, and 64 veterans had been waiting six months to a year for Another 400 veterans appointments.
article_snippet: the Los Angeles VA's own internal documents obtained by CNN show the lengthy wait times are still happening, within the last several months, and
article_snippet: And yet last month, the Los Angeles VA's acting director for the Western region overseeing the Los Angeles VA told Congress that veterans who are new patients there only have to wait a few days for appointments.
article_snippet: The average wait time for a new patient right now is about four days," Dr. Skye McDougall, the acting director of the Desert Pacific Healthcare Network, Veterans Health Administration, testified before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
article_snippet: According to the Los Angeles VA's documents dated January 15, the actual average wait time for new patients at the Los Angeles VA was 48 days.
article_snippet: The wait times since then have not changed significantly -- coming down slightly to a wait time of 44 days for new patients as of March 1, according to another the Los Angeles VA document -- and are still roughly 10 times what McDougall testified new patients were.
article_snippet: The delays in appointments are even taking place at Los Angeles clinics for mental health, where documents show more than 300 veterans have been waiting more than 30, 60, even 90 days for treatment.
article_snippet: At the congressional hearing, McDougall was specifically asked about mental health wait times for new patients, a growing national concern as hundreds of veterans are committing suicide every year.
article_snippet: Asked how long the wait time is for mental health at the Los Angeles VA, McDougall testified that the same number -- a four days' wait for new patients -- applies for mental health.
article_snippet: A new the Los Angeles VA chart shows as of March 1, new mental health patients in Los Angeles are waiting an average 36 days just to get an appointment.
article_snippet: the Los Angeles VA the Los Angeles VA sent CNN new "retrospective data" showing primary care average wait times of four days, specialty care wait times of 7.5 days, and mental health wait times of 2.5 days, as of January.
article_snippet: the Los Angeles VA the Los Angeles VA explained that the chart for new patients obtained by CNN "does not include same day appointments or in some cases same week appointments for those Veterans who need care quickly....
article_snippet: New patients, the Los Angeles VA the Los Angeles VA told CNN, "typically account for less than 10% of all Veteran appointments and are not representative of the whole patient population.
article_snippet: the Los Angeles VA the Los Angeles VA removed the Los Angeles VA 14-day scheduling goal to discourage engaging in "inappropriate scheduling practices," and President Barack Obama also appointed a new the Los Angeles VA secretary, Robert McDonald, last summer.
highlights_snippet: Document shows veterans at VA's largest hospital facing months-long waits for appointments .
  
highlights_snippet: Last month, VA official said average wait time was four days .
  