About this site

Why this exists

SurgeryWaitTimes.com started with a simple observation: the people most hurt by medical queues — Canadians staring down a year-long orthopaedic wait, veterans watching the VA blow past its own 20-day standard — get the least straight information about their options. Wait-time coverage is either government reassurance or clickbait outrage. Neither tells you what to actually do on Tuesday.

So this site does three things, and only three: publishes verified wait-time data with the source and year on every figure; explains the legitimate mechanisms for getting out of the line, including underused ones like the VA Foreign Medical Program; and, for people who choose treatment abroad, connects them with credentialed providers in Colombia that we’ve vetted in person.

Who runs it

My name is Andy. I’m American, I run Scout Theory LLC (registered in Ohio), and I live and work in Medellín, Colombia — where I operate Colombia Medical and a network of procedure-specific guides. Living here is the entire point: I can walk into a clinic, verify a surgeon’s ReTHUS registration at the source, check that a hospital’s JCI accreditation is current, and be reachable in a U.S. time zone when a patient lands.

I’m not a doctor, a lawyer, or a VA employee, and this site never pretends otherwise. What I am is the person on the ground who makes sure that if you fly here, the credentials you were promised are the credentials that exist.

The rules we don’t break

• Every statistic is cited with its source and year. If we can’t cite it, we don’t publish it.
• Prices are typical 2026 ranges, never quotes. Your quote comes from a clinic, not a website.
• No fabricated clinic names, surgeon names, reviews, or testimonials. Ever.
• VA and FMP content describes the rules as written (VA.gov, 38 CFR) and always tells you to confirm coverage with VA directly before traveling.
• If the honest answer is “stay home and use community care,” that’s the answer you’ll get.