2026-07-28T10:00:25.694Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
在美国空军服役数十年后，丹尼斯一直饱受间歇性背痛的困扰，他认为这源于海外部署期间频繁搬运重型装备。
但大约两年前，疼痛转为慢性，他的心理健康也开始受到影响——尤其是当他不得不限制包括运动在内的日常活动时。在当地退伍军人事务部（VA）诊所预约心理学家花了他数个月时间，这让他的焦虑情绪进一步加剧。
“预约真的太难了，”丹尼斯告诉CNN，他要求隐去姓氏以保护隐私。“面对这样的等待时间，只能说‘糟透了’。用‘令人失望’来形容最贴切了。”
根据退伍军人事务部在其“就医可及性”网站上公开的数据，丹尼斯的经历似乎相当普遍。该网站按专科分类提供了详细的等待时间信息，其中就包括心理健康服务，覆盖全美各地的退伍军人事务部诊所。
但首次寻求心理健康护理的退伍军人实际需要等待多久才能看上医生，这一点却完全不明朗。“就医可及性”网站上公布的数据，与退伍军人事务部部长道格·科林斯公开向国会山议员们披露的数据大相径庭。
改善退伍军人获得心理健康服务的可及性，多年来一直是多届政府治下退伍军人事务部的重点关切，尤其是在许多退伍军人退役后出现焦虑、抑郁和其他心理问题的背景下。在特朗普政府任期内，仍有不少退伍军人向国会议员和一些维权团体抱怨，预约心理健康服务需要等待过长时间。
为此，CNN深入研究了相关数据。我们梳理了7月近一个月的统计数据，发现全美各地的退伍军人往往需要等待数周甚至数月，才能在当地医疗中心预约到首次心理健康诊疗。
我们的分析显示，在此期间提交数据的541家退伍军人事务部诊所——占总数的三分之二——的典型等待时间，超过了该机构设定的20天内完成首次心理健康预约的目标。CNN追踪了全美800多家诊所的每日平均等待时间。
少数几家退伍军人事务部诊所的等待时间长达近五个月甚至更久。另有22家诊所报告的等待时间超过三个月。
这些发现与进步派退伍军人维权组织“共同防务”的类似分析结果一致。该组织也发现，5月和6月，大多数退伍军人事务部诊所未能达到该机构20天的等待目标。该组织和另一家批评唐纳德·特朗普政府时期退伍军人事务部的“退伍军人之声基金会”，都收到了退伍军人关于等待时间的投诉。
但退伍军人事务部 outright否认存在这一问题。
退伍军人事务部部长科林斯表示，首次预约心理健康服务的平均等待时间仅为15天。
当被问及这一15天数据的更多细节时，该机构在给CNN的一份声明中表示，这是“综合”心理健康类别中新患者的等待时间。
这一类别不仅包括退伍军人事务部“就医可及性”网站上公布的个体诊疗预约，还包括数十种其他类型的预约，例如团体治疗和住院治疗。退伍军人事务部未提供相关基础数据或统计方法细节。
退伍军人事务部辩称，对其公开数据的分析存在错误和不完整之处，原因包括少数等待时间极长的患者会拉高平均数据，且该数据未反映有时会提前安排预约的情况。
该网站提示用户，等待时间可能大幅波动——甚至每日都有变化，了解最新可预约时间的最佳方式是致电当地诊所或使用在线预约工具。该机构还指出，新患者约占心理健康诊疗总预约量的10%，而复诊患者的等待时间通常更短。
但对许多退伍军人及其维权人士而言，这一说法与实际情况不符。批评人士表示，科林斯在挑选数据，不同的统计数据和方法造成了认知混乱。
“这与部长向国会和公众的表述，以及退伍军人实际经历的情况之间，存在巨大差距，”一名负责退伍军人事务的众议院民主党幕僚在匿名前提下告诉CNN。
此外，批评人士称，科林斯的乐观描述与该机构监察长认定的退伍军人事务部系统内持续存在的“严重”心理健康服务提供者短缺问题难以调和——这一问题会让有需要的退伍军人更难获得及时救治。
对丹尼斯来说，预约诊疗的过程令人沮丧，不过他对退伍军人事务部的心理医生颇为满意。
今年早些时候，他原定的初步筛查在他前往诊所的最后一刻被医生取消。最终，他在数月后才完成筛查。随后，他又花了约一个月时间才首次见到心理医生。
“承认自己需要帮助，需要大量的反思和勇气，”丹尼斯说。“预约一再推迟，我没能及时得到帮助。我的精神状态可能又恶化了一点。”
就医需求十分庞大。根据该机构10月的一份报告，2024财年，共有超过200万退伍军人通过退伍军人事务部接受了心理健康服务——包括专业人员提供的个体或团体治疗。
2023年，平均每天有超过17名退伍军人自杀。
“这些人经历了任何人都可能遭遇的最危险、最具破坏性的经历，”“共同防务”的数据总监亚历克斯·里奇说。“所以当他们终于鼓起勇气寻求帮助时，却要面对这样的等待时间，这实在令人沮丧，也难以解释。”
需要说明的重要一点是，根据退伍军人事务部的政策，遭遇紧急心理健康危机的退伍军人，可以在当日于该机构诊所、急诊室或私营医疗机构就诊。
此外，如果退伍军人在当地诊所预约心理健康服务的等待时间超过20天，他们将自动有资格前往私营医疗机构就诊。但多项研究发现，退伍军人在退伍军人事务部诊所的就医体验更好，而该系统的支持者也对退伍军人医疗私有化发出了警告。
长期存在的等待时间争议
美国医疗体系普遍存在预约等待时间过长的问题，许多美国人都有过类似经历，但这一问题在退伍军人事务部却格外引发关注。
对退伍军人事务部的关注部分源于，与大多数私营医疗体系不同，该机构会持续测量并公布预约等待时间。
“没有其他机构会这么做，”科林斯在5月的一场参议院听证会上说道。
科林斯在听证会上坚称，特朗普政府第二届任期内，首次心理健康预约的等待时间有所缩短。
退伍军人事务部称，1月至4月，涵盖更广泛心理健康服务的新患者等待时间全机构范围内下降了2.8天，平均约15天，处于该机构的目标区间内。
但根据CNN的分析，退伍军人事务部“就医可及性”网站的数据显示，7月仅个体诊疗预约的典型等待时间就超过了27天。（由于CNN仅能获取退伍军人事务部的公开数据，我们统计了全国的中位等待时间，这意味着在此期间各诊所报告的每日平均等待时间有一半长于此数据，一半短于此数据。）
民主党人士表示，尽管多次提出要求，科林斯及其助手仍未提供用于得出其统计数据的基础信息。他们已就这一问题严厉批评了这位部长。
参议员帕蒂·默里在5月的听证会上表示，她收到了家乡州的退伍军人反映，行为健康护理——包括精神疾病和药物滥用治疗——的等待时间可能长达90天。这位华盛顿州民主党议员称这“令人无法接受”。
国会幕僚告诉CNN，在拜登政府任期内，议员们通常会收到关于退伍军人事务部等待时间的简报，形式为电子表格和幻灯片演示。他们表示，这一情况在拜登任期临近结束时发生了变化。
“我们再也拿不到这些简报了，”一名幕僚说。“我们一直在恳求他们提供。”
与日俱增的沮丧和焦虑
露丝是一名海军陆战队退伍军人，曾在美国东部一家退伍军人事务部诊所接受创伤后应激障碍和抑郁症治疗，此前她每两个月就能见到一位自己喜欢的精神科医生。
但今年早些时候的一天，就在预约就诊前不久，她被告知那位医生已离开退伍军人事务部，她需要重新预约。她说，她花了两个月时间才排上新医生的号，这让她有四个月没能接受治疗，整日坐立不安，担心没人跟进自己的病情，也担心新医生不合适。
“如果当时我遭遇了心理健康危机，情况会很糟糕，”露丝告诉CNN，她要求使用化名以保护隐私。“那些所谓15天就能预约上的神奇情况到底是谁遇上了？”
更让她困扰的是，她的新医生是男性。她更希望由女医生诊治，但被告知诊所不知道何时才能满足这一要求。
玛莎·金尼也表示，她的经历令人沮丧。作为一名拥有28年军龄的陆军和陆军预备役退伍军人，金尼去年7月底向位于利兹的马萨诸塞州中西部退伍军人事务部诊所申请心理健康服务，以应对与服役相关的焦虑问题。她说，数月过去，退伍军人事务部方面没有任何音讯。
直到今年5月底，金尼主动联系退伍军人事务部跟进此事。据金尼称，为她做初步筛查的人员致电道歉，表示没有她的入院记录，2025年7月评估的笔记也未录入系统。
“这真的让我很恼火，”金尼告诉CNN。“让我愤怒的是，我们没有一个更完善的系统。”
她最终在6月中旬成功预约了诊疗。让她不安的是，还有其他退伍军人“需求比我大得多”，可能也在经历同样的挫败，她说。
“这太离谱了，”金尼说。
退伍军人事务部总部和马萨诸塞州诊所均未回应CNN就金尼事件置评的请求。
至少在过去几年里，退伍军人事务部一直面临心理健康专业人员短缺的问题。该机构8月发布的监察长办公室报告显示，2025财年，57%的诊所将心理学列为最严重短缺的临床职业。
精神病学位列第二，55%的诊所报告存在严重短缺。报告发现，自2018财年以来，这两个领域一直位列临床短缺程度最高的前五名。
与此同时，就医需求飙升。根据该机构10月的另一份报告，2009年至2024财年期间，直接通过退伍军人事务部接受心理健康护理的退伍军人人数跃升了78%。退伍军人事务部预计，2023年至2033财年期间，住院和门诊心理健康护理需求将再增长38%。
“过去十年间，寻求退伍军人健康管理局心理健康治疗的退伍军人人数快速增长，带来了人员配备挑战，”报告称。
与此同时，在11月至1月的大规模精简计划中，退伍军人事务部削减了2300多个未填补的心理健康相关职位。根据今年早些时候提交给众议院退伍军人事务委员会的退伍军人事务部数据，其中包括取消425个未填补的心理学家职位。
在特朗普政府对联邦政府的改组期间，包括实施限制招聘替代人员数量的冻结令，数万名退伍军人事务部职员辞职、接受买断计划或提前退休及其他激励措施。
退伍军人事务部在给CNN的一份声明中表示，其医疗设施一直在招聘所需的所有职位。
“几十年来，退伍军人健康管理局根据当时的需求设立了职位。这些需求多年来已经发生了变化，”退伍军人事务部称。“2025年，我们告知退伍军人健康管理局的领导们，保留所有需要的职位，取消所有不需要的未填补职位。”
但“共同防务”的里奇表示，他对退伍军人事务部在人员配备不足、需求迫切之际削减心理健康职位的做法感到困惑。
“我无论如何都无法理解，科林斯部长或其他任何人，为什么要在退伍军人的护理上斤斤计较，”他说。
统计方法 | CNN于2026年7月1日至7月26日每日检索退伍军人事务部“就医可及性”网站上各诊所公布的平均等待时间数据。在958家退伍军人事务部诊所中，有802家在此期间至少一次公布了新患者个体心理健康预约的平均等待时间。
Data shows some veterans wait months to see a therapist for the first time. The VA secretary has his own numbers
2026-07-28T10:00:25.694Z / CNN
For decades after serving in the US Air Force, Dennis suffered from sporadic back pain, which he believes stemmed from frequently moving heavy equipment during overseas tours.
But when the pain became chronic about two years ago, his mental health also began to suffer – especially as he had to limit his activities, including sports. His anxiety only grew after it took him a few months to schedule an appointment with a psychologist at his local Veterans Affairs facility.
“It was just really tough to get in,” said Dennis, who asked CNN not to use his last name to protect his privacy. “With these wait times, it’s like, ‘Crap.’ Disappointing is the best word to describe it.”
Dennis’ experience appears to be commonplace, according to data the VA publicly posts on its Access to Care website. The site provides extensive wait time information by specialty – including mental health – at VA facilities across the country.
But just how long veterans seeking mental healthcare for the first time actually have to wait to see a provider is anything but clear. The data posted on the Access to Care website paints a very different picture than the one VA Secretary Doug Collins has laid out publicly and for lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Improving veterans’ access to mental health services has long been a concern for the VA through multiple administrations, especially as many veterans suffer from anxiety, depression and other conditions once they end their military service. In the Trump administration, some veterans have continued to complain to their Congress members and some advocacy groups about long waits to see a mental health provider.
So CNN delved into the data. We crunched the numbers for nearly all of July and found that veterans across the nation frequently have to wait weeks – or even months – for initial mental health appointments at their local medical centers.
Our analysis shows typical wait times at 541 VA facilities, or two-thirds of those that reported data during that period, exceeded the agency’s own target of 20 days to get an initial mental health appointment. CNN tracked the daily average wait times at more than 800 locations across the US.
At a handful of VA facilities, waits stretched nearly five or more months. Another 22 facilities reported wait times of more than three months.
These findings echoed a similar analysis by Common Defense, a progressive veterans’ advocacy group, that also found that a majority of VA facilities missed the agency’s 20-day target in May and June. The group and Vet Voice Foundation, another organization that’s been critical of President Donald Trump’s VA, have fielded complaints about wait times from veterans.
But the VA flat-out denies there’s a problem.
VA Secretary Collins says it only takes 15 days, on average, to see a provider for a first-time mental health appointment.
Asked for more information behind the 15-day figure, the agency told CNN in a statement that it is the wait time for new patients in a “combined” mental health category.
That includes not just individual therapy appointments posted on the VA’s Access to Care site but also dozens of other kinds of appointments such as group sessions and residential treatment. The VA would not provide the underlying data or details about its methodology.
The VA contends that studies analyzing its public data would be incorrect and incomplete for several reasons, including that a few patients with long wait times skew the average and that it doesn’t reflect when appointments are sometimes moved earlier.
The site tells users that wait times can fluctuate greatly – even day by day – and that the best way to know when the next appointment is available is to call their local facility or use the online appointment tool. The agency also noted that new patients make up roughly 10% of total mental health appointments – and that wait times for established patients are generally shorter.
But for many veterans and their advocates, something doesn’t add up. Critics say Collins is cherry-picking data and that the varying figures and methodologies create confusion.
“This creates a significant gap between what the secretary tells Congress and the public and what veterans say they’re actually living through,” a House Democratic staffer who works on veterans’ issues told CNN, on the condition that they remain anonymous.
Moreover, critics say it’s hard to square Collins’ rosy picture with what the agency’s watchdog deems is an ongoing “severe” shortage of mental health providers in the VA system – which can make it all the more difficult for veterans in need to get timely care.
For Dennis, trying to get an appointment was frustrating, though he’s happy with his psychologist at the VA.
His initial screening scheduled for earlier this year was canceled by the provider at the last minute as he was on his way to the appointment. Ultimately, he wasn’t screened until several months later. It then took about another month for him to meet with a psychologist for the first time.
“It takes quite a bit of reflection and courage to admit you need help,” Dennis said. “By the appointment being delayed, I couldn’t be helped sooner. My mental state probably declined a little bit more.”
The demand for care is great. Just over 2 million veterans received mental health services – either through individual or group therapy from a professional – within the VA in fiscal year 2024, according to an October report from the agency.
And more than 17 veterans a day died by suicide in 2023, on average.
“These folks go through some of the most dangerous and damaging experiences that anybody can be sent to,” said Alex Rich, data director for Common Defense. “So when they finally come forward and ask for help, to have these kinds of wait times put in front of them is just incredibly depressing and difficult to explain.”
An important caveat is that under the VA’s policy, veterans having emergency mental health crises can be seen the same day at an agency facility, an emergency room or a private provider.
Also, if the wait time for a mental health appointment at a veteran’s local facility is longer than 20 days, he or she is automatically eligible to go to a private provider. But several studies have found that veterans have better experiences at VA facilities, and advocates of the system have raised red flags about privatizing veterans’ medical care.
The longstanding wait debate
Lengthy wait times for appointments are a feature of the US healthcare system that many Americans have experienced, but the issue is a lightning rod for the VA.
The focus on the VA stems in part from the fact that, unlike most private health systems, the agency continuously measures and publishes appointment wait times.
“Nobody else does this,” Collins noted during a Senate hearing in May.
Collins insisted at the hearing that wait times for initial mental health appointments during the second Trump administration have declined.
From January to April, the VA says wait times for new patients seeking the broader array of mental health appointments dropped agencywide by 2.8 days to an average of about 15 days, which is within the agency’s target window.
According to the data on the VA’s Access to Care website, however, the typical wait time for just individual therapy appointments in July was more than 27, according to CNN’s analysis. (Because CNN only had access to VA’s public data, we looked at the median wait time nationwide, which means half of the daily average wait times reported by facilities during the period were longer and half were shorter.)
Democrats say Collins and his aides have not provided the underlying data they used to arrive at their numbers despite repeated requests. They have lambasted the secretary over the issue.
Sen. Patty Murray said during the May hearing that she heard from veterans in her home state that wait times could be up to 90 days for behavioral health care, which includes treatment for mental illness and substance abuse. The Washington state Democrat called that “unacceptable.”
Congressional staffers told CNN that during the Biden administration, lawmakers would often get briefings on VA wait times, which would come in the form of spreadsheets and slide presentations. That changed toward the end of the Biden era, they said.
“We don’t get those anymore,” one staffer said. “We’ve been begging them.”
Mounting frustration and anxiety
Ruth, a Marine veteran who has been treated for PTSD and depression at a VA facility in the eastern US, had been seeing a psychiatrist she liked every two months.
But one day earlier this year – shortly before a scheduled appointment – she was told the doctor had left the VA, and she would have to reschedule. She said she could not get on a new provider’s calendar for another two months, forcing her to go about four months without care and leaving her on edge, worried that no one was monitoring her and that the new doctor might not be a good fit.
“If I’d had a mental health crisis, I’d have been in bad shape,” said Ruth, who asked CNN to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy. “Who is getting these magical 15-day appointments?”
What’s more, her new provider is a man. She would prefer to be seen by a female doctor but was told the facility didn’t know when it could accommodate that request.
Martha Kinney also said her experience was frustrating. A 28-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserve, Kinney said she applied for mental health services at the VA’s Central Western Massachusetts facility in Leeds in late July last year, seeking help to deal with anxiety issues tied to her service. Several months went by with no word from the VA, she said.
Then in late May of this year, Kinney reached out to the VA to follow up. The person who did her initial screening called her to apologize, telling her there was no record of her intake and that the notes from her July 2025 evaluation had not been entered into the system, according to Kinney.
“It really irritates me,” Kinney told CNN. “It angers me that we don’t have a better system.”
She was finally able to set an appointment for mid-June. What bothers her is that there are other veterans “with far greater needs than me,” who could be going through the same frustrations, she said.
“That’s unconscionable,” Kinney said.
Neither VA’s headquarters nor the Massachusetts facility responded to requests for comment on Kinney’s story.
The VA has been contending with a shortage of mental health professionals for at least the last several years. Psychology was the clinical occupation most frequently reported to be in severe shortage, with 57% of facilities designating it as such in fiscal year 2025, according to the agency’s Office of Inspector General report from August.
Psychiatry was second with severe shortages reported at 55% of facilities. Both have been among the top 5 areas with the highest clinical shortage levels since fiscal year 2018, the report found.
At the same time, demand for care is soaring. The number of veterans who received mental health care directly from the VA jumped 78% between fiscal years 2009 and 2024, according to a separate agency report from October. The VA expects inpatient and outpatient mental health care to grow by another 38% between fiscal years 2023 and 2033.
“The rapid growth over the past decade in the number of Veterans seeking mental health treatment in VHA has posed staffing challenges,” the report said.
Meanwhile, the VA slashed more than 2,300 unfilled mental health-related positions as part of a larger downsizing between November and January. That included the elimination of 425 unfilled psychologist slots, according to VA data shared with the House Veterans Affairs Committee earlier this year.
And tens of thousands of VA staffers resigned, took buyouts or accepted early retirement and other incentives amid the Trump administration’s revamping of the federal government, which includes a hiring freeze that limits the number of replacements who can be brought on.
The VA said in a statement to CNN that VA healthcare facilities have continued to hire for any jobs they need to fill.
“Over decades, the Veterans Health Administration created positions based on their needs at the time. Those needs have changed over the years,” the VA said. “In 2025, we told VHA leaders to keep all of positions they need and eliminate any unfilled positions that they don’t need.”
But Rich, from Common Defense, said he’s baffled that the VA would cut mental health positions at such a time of understaffing and need.
“I can’t, for the life of me, understand why Secretary Collins, or anybody else, would try to nickel and dime those veterans’ care,” he said.
Methodology | CNN retrieved average wait time data reported on the Veterans Affairs’ Access to Care website daily from July 1 through July 26, 2026, by facility. Of 958 VA facilities, 802 reported average wait times for individual mental health appointments for new patients at least once during that period.