The Arizona Republic (DATE OF ARTICLE), which is part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, reported that “dozens of veterans died while waiting on care” at the Phoenix VA Medical Center (WHEN?). Despite investigators’ resistance to releasing how serious other involved states’ manipulation was, looking into the local VA’s record with veterans dying while waiting could prove to be a substantial story.

According to data from the Department of Veteran Affairs, one veteran hospital had an average wait time for new patients of 91.32 days in and an average wait time for established patients of 29.57 days in 2014. Finding other VA’s data and comparing them based on the veteran population in their respective cities could also highlight important information. For example, if 5 percent of Fayetteville’s population were veterans and they had an average wait time for established patients of 30 days, but 2 percent of Tulsa’s population were veterans and they had an average wait time for established patients of 60 days, that could be an interesting story. A city with a similar population to Fayetteville’s would have to be found.

According to USA Today (WHEN), Fayetteville, Arkansas’s VA jumped from a 3-star rating to a 5-star rating last December. Since 2015, 120 of the 146 VAs surveyed showed improvement, indicating either a great increase in service or a great decrease in honesty.

(April 8, 2016 Friday ). VA bosses falsified veterans’ wait times; Recently released reports detail extent of problems
at U.S. medical centers. USA TODAY, Retrieved from
http://0-www.lexisnexis.com.library.uark.edu/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5CGC-5SC1-DYNS-34X3&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

(December 21, 2016 Wednesday ). VA reverses course, releases health care data. USA TODAY, Retrieved from http://0-www.lexisnexis.com.library.uark.edu/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5MFD-P391-JC8N-K49B&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Military, Drew Brooks. (June 20, 2014 Friday ). Fayetteville VA hospital has longer wait times for patients. The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, North Carolina), Retrieved from http://0-www.lexisnexis.com.library.uark.edu/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5CGC-5SC1-DYNS-34X3&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Questions About the Dataset:

1. In order to get longterm data, would it be deceptive to combine all the years of data for a giant number and then combine all the numbers of wait times for another giant number? In other words, can we get data on something like “20 percent of all wait times for the VA in Fayetteville, Arkansas, were longer than 30 days between 2013 and 2017”?
2. When writing our articles, will we need to specify that some of these wait times could be the same veteran, and that they do not necessarily represent the total number of veterans served?