A new report from the Government Accountability Office found that a significant number of newly enrolled veterans are not able to access primary care from the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and others experienced wide variation in the amount of time they waited for care.

GAO found that 50 of 80 newly enrolled veterans in its review had not been seen by providers and that almost half were unable to access primary care because VA medical center staff did not schedule appointments for these veterans in accordance with VHA policy.

What's more, the 120 newly enrolled veterans in GAO's review who were seen by providers waited from 22 days to 71 days from their requests that VA contact them to schedule appointments to when they were seen.

The report recommended the VHA ensure veterans requesting appointments are contacted in a timely manner to schedule one, that the VHA monitor the full amount of time newly enrolled veterans wait to receive primary care; and that the VHA issue an updated scheduling policy.

The VA agreed with the GAO's recommendations and said it is taking actions to implement them.

"Officials from three of the medical centers included in our review reported developing technological solutions to improve access to timely primary care appointments," the GAO said. "These solutions included increasing the use of telehealth and secure messaging to improve the convenience and availability of primary care appointments."

Telemedicine has been repeatedly cited as a way to increase veterans' access to health care.

Last month, a study published in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health found that the VAs' use of telemedicine to treat patients at its Vermont hospital at White River Junction, for instance, resulted in an average travel payment savings of $18,555 per year between 2005 and 2013.

The study found that telemedicine resulted in an average savings of 145 miles and 142 minutes per visit, resulting in the aforementioned payment reductions, while telemedicine services volume grew significantly over the study period such that by the final year the travel savings had increased to $63,804, or about 3.5 percent of the total travel pay for that year.