PORTLAND, Maine — The nation's oldest veterans hospital, in Augusta, Maine, is also among the VA sites where patients are less likely to have to wait a long time for treatment.
The Associated Press analyzed six months of appointment data at 940 VA hospitals and clinics nationwide to identify the ones struggling most to deliver prompt care.
Between Sept. 1 and Feb. 28, only 1.2 percent of the appointments completed at the VA hospital in Augusta failed to meet the department's timeliness standard, which calls for patients to be seen within 30 days.
The national average for the time period was 2.8 percent. Maine's outpatient clinics also measured up well.
The AP found that many of the VA sites struggling to reduce wait times were clustered in the southeastern U.S.