{"id":7225,"date":"2026-03-09T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7225"},"modified":"2026-03-09T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:00:00","slug":"va-moves-to-speed-up-community-care-appointment-scheduling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7225","title":{"rendered":"VA moves to speed up community care appointment scheduling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2026-03-09T15:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON <\/strong>\u2014 Technology that will help the Department of Veterans Affairs schedule community care appointments faster than ever before is now up and running at all VA facilities, and VA will be expanding its use in 2026 so Veterans can more easily choose the health care they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n

The External Provider Scheduling<\/a> system gives VA employees instant access to the scheduling systems of all community care providers who participate in this program. With that information, VA can immediately book appointments for Veterans that fit their schedules.<\/p>\n

Without EPS, VA employees often have to make multiple calls to multiple community care providers and relay that information back to Veterans before a single appointment can be booked. Under this traditional method, a single VA employee can only book a handful of community care appointments per day, and it can take days or even weeks to book a single appointment.<\/p>\n

But EPS enables VA employees to book as many as 25 appointments per day, a vast improvement that means less waiting time for Veterans.<\/p>\n

The Biden Administration had access to this system but did not deploy it nationwide. Under the second Trump Administration, EPS was implemented in all VA facilities by late 2025.<\/p>\n

Today, 27,000 community care providers are participating in the EPS program covering 78 medical specialties. VA\u2019s goal is to sign up thousands of additional community care providers in 2026 as part of VA\u2019s ongoing effort to deliver timely, Veteran-centered care. It costs nothing for providers to participate in EPS \u2014 community care providers can learn more<\/a>\u00a0here about how to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen President Trump signed the MISSION Act, Veterans eligible for community care were guaranteed the right to choose the health care that\u2019s best for them, whether at a VA facility or a community provider,\u201d said VA Secretary Doug Collins<\/strong>. \u201cWe are making it easier and more convenient\u00a0than ever for those who have worn the uniform to choose the care that best fits their lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Technology that will help the Department of Veterans Affairs schedule community care appointments faster than ever before is now up and running at all VA facilities, and VA will be expanding its use in 2026 so Veterans can more easily choose the health care they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-health-care","category-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nVA moves to speed up community care appointment scheduling - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Technology that will help the Department of Veterans Affairs schedule community care appointments faster than ever before is now up and running at all VA facilities, and VA will be expanding its use in 2026 so Veterans can more easily choose the health care they\u2019ve earned.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7225\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA moves to speed up community care appointment scheduling - Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Technology that will help the Department of Veterans Affairs schedule community care appointments faster than ever before is now up and running at all VA facilities, and VA will be expanding its use in 2026 so Veterans can more easily choose the health care they\u2019ve earned.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7225\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7225#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7225\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\"},\"headline\":\"VA moves to speed up community care appointment scheduling\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-09T15:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7225\"},\"wordCount\":379,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7225#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-301.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health & Care\",\"Trump\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7225\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7225\",\"name\":\"VA moves to speed up community care appointment scheduling - 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