Review of Timeliness of Mental Health Community Care Appointments

Using data from mental health appointments that occurred between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to determine to what extent community care outpatient mental health appointments met the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) timeliness standards for scheduling and the timeliness metrics for appointments to occur as established in VHA’s Community Care Network contracts.

Scheduling and appointment timeliness determine the total time veterans wait for mental health care, and veterans who receive services for mental health consults may pose a risk to themselves or others if they do not receive care in a timely manner.

The review team evaluated consults at 133 healthcare systems and found that, in fiscal year 2025, 128 medical centers averaged above the seven-day consult scheduling standard while five met the seven-day standard. Although about 80 percent of care in the community mental health consults met the metrics for the appointment to occur within 30 days, for those appointment dates that did not meet contract metrics, veterans waited an average of 56 days to receive care.

Scheduling delays were a key driver when the consult scheduling metric was not met in the 20 percent of mental health community care consults whose appointments occurred after 30 days. Staff relying on telephone calls and postal mail to contact veterans, community providers not always offering appointment types that met veterans’ preferences, and staff facing challenges contacting providers all contributed to scheduling delays. The OIG made six recommendations to the under secretary for health for VHA to improve its process for scheduling community care appointments for mental health consults. Based on evidence provided by VHA, the OIG closed recommendations 1 and 6.