Physician appointment wait times UP 30 PERCENT from 2014 (study) (wow)

[lecter]

Merritt Hawkins & Associates, America's leading physician search and consulting firm published a study conducted in 2017 (January-February) of waiting times for an appointment with a physician in 30 metropolitan markets.

"Average new patient physician appointment wait times have increased significantly. The average wait time for a physician appointment for the 15 large metro markets surveyed is 24.1 days, up 30% from 2014"

"For large markets, the average wait time to see a family medicine physician is 29 days (up 50% from 2014), and ranges from a high of 109 days in Boston to a low of 8 days in Minneapolis"

"Appointment wait times are longer in mid-sized metro markets than in large metro markets. The average wait time for a new patient physician appointment in all 15 mid-sized markets is 32 days, 32.8% higher than the average for large metro markets"

"At 52.4 days, Boston has the highest average new patient physician appointment wait time of the 15 large metro markets surveyed."

"At 48.8 days, Yakima, Washington has the highest average new patient physician appointment wait time of the 15 mid-sized metro markets surveyed."

" At 14.8 days, Dallas has the lowest average physician appointment wait time of the 15 major markets surveyed."

"At 10.8 days, Billings, Montana has the lowest average physician appointment wait time of the 15 mid-sized markets."

Merrit Hawkins & Associates homepage: https://www.merritthawkins.com/
Study: https://www.merritthawkins.com/uploadedFiles/MerrittHawkins/Pdf/mha2017waittimesurveyPDF.pdf

That's pretty bad. Thoughts?

 

[mike sherry]

if this is because of less doctors then its bad. but if its just because more people are able to actually go to the doctor it probably isnt bad

 

[luckyshot]

if this is because of less doctors then its bad. but if its just because more people are able to actually go to the doctor it probably isnt bad

It's a bit of both I'm sure.

No one wants to be a GP these days because med school puts you $250K in the hole. Need to be a specialist to make up that kind of loot.

Plus more people with insurance because of Obamacare.

We need more good Nurse Practitioners to handle the primary care load.

 

[xcvbn]

if this is because of less doctors then its bad. but if its just because more people are able to actually go to the doctor it probably isnt bad

As well as more people(baby boomers) needing to go to the doctor

Still not good. I've personally experienced this delay on both the private practice side(myself) and the private/public(my child's doctor takes in a ton of state-funded patients) side as well.

 

[panamaican]

The posts above me hit the main points. Doctors don't want to be GP's. More people with insurance so greater demand for appointments. Baby boomers aging so more medical issues.

One more reason the supply of medical practitioners needs to reviewed and the barriers to entry need to be reduced.

We need more residencies, more medical schools, more MD's from overseas, more independent clinics, etc.

Also, the debt issue has to be addressed. We should be like other countries and med school should be an undergrad degree. The licensing exams and USMLE will still weed out the incompetents.

 

[ripskater]

That's the problem when govt makes healthcare free for more people. You're just gonna have to wait longer to get in to see a doctor. Doctors won't get paid enough, so they drop out. And people take advantage and just go see the doctor more often.

There was a guy in the strength and conditioning forum that hurt his neck really bad, couldn't be seen by a specialist for 6 months.

 

[*Z*]

It's for new patients. Once you get a primary care physician you're fine.

 

[drstrangelov]

Blame Romneycare for the wait times in Boston.

 

[Threetrees]

The physician shortage, particularly the GP shortage, is something that's been known for quite a while. That plus the expansion of access to healthcare means this is the obvious result

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

That's the problem when govt makes healthcare free for more people. You're just gonna have to wait longer to get in to see a doctor. Doctors won't get paid enough, so they drop out. And people take advantage and just go see the doctor more often.

There was a guy in the strength and conditioning forum that hurt his neck really bad, couldn't be seen by a specialist for 6 months.

Ask anyone in Toronto (or Canada for that matter) what a nightmare it is to get an MRI. When i herniated a disc in my lower lumbar it took me 6 months to book the appointment and another 6 months to receive the results. That's just fucking stupid.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

I've been saying for years that part of addressing health care needs should include enticing more people to practice. Never had too many people agree with me though.

 

[Fatchops]

 

[panamaican]

I've been saying for years that part of addressing health care needs should include enticing more people to practice. Never had too many people agree with me though.

Because most people get their hackles up about "quality". As if shifting more people from law or finance into medicine would mean a reduction in "quality". But that won't happen as long as we lack enough med schools or residencies to train them.

 

[lecter]

if this is because of less doctors then its bad. but if its just because more people are able to actually go to the doctor it probably isnt bad

This study from 2014 counts 916,264 licensed physicians and a population of 318,857,056, resulting in 287 physicians per 100,000.
This website counts 926,119 physicians (source: "Special data request for information on active state licensed physicians from Redi-Data, Inc, September 2016" ?not sure about that?) in 2016, and according to the US census bureau (source used for estimated population in the 2014 study) the population was 323,127,513 in 2016, so we have ~286 per 100,000.
Now, using different sources and all, that's not the most professional calculation but looks like there's not much of a change.
Maybe somebody knows better sources.

 

[ripskater]

I've been saying for years that part of addressing health care needs should include enticing more people to practice. Never had too many people agree with me though.

The USA would have to bring in a bunch of foreign doctors to treat us for cheap.

 

[Gutter Chris]

I've been saying for years that part of addressing health care needs should include enticing more people to practice. Never had too many people agree with me though.

I agree with you. It would seem that we need to make more doctors. Im sure we as a country have the ability to do just that but like everything else there is probably all kinds of vested interests in making that not happen. If only there was some huge public pool of funds that we could use for such a project .....

 

[Gutter Chris]

The USA would have to bring in a bunch of foreign doctors to treat us for cheap.

For a quick fix but we could also recruit highschool students pay there way through college and create a lot of native born ones ..... Call it an incentive program with subsidies call it socialism call it whatever you want as long as it produces the desired result.

 

[EvilManny]

For a quick fix but we could also recruit highschool students pay there way through college and create a lot of native born ones ..... Call it an incentive program with subsidies call it socialism call it whatever you want as long as it produces the desired result.

Neither of these can work. There are more foreign doctors applying for residencies than there are residency slots. We can't train more doctors or accept more foreign graduates till we increase the number of residencies.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Because most people get their hackles up about "quality". As if shifting more people from law or finance into medicine would mean a reduction in "quality". But that won't happen as long as we lack enough med schools or residencies to train them.

Yep. And doctors probably don't want the competition for fear of decreased revenue.

The USA would have to bring in a bunch of foreign doctors to treat us for cheap.

I think we already do. From India.

I agree with you. It would seem that we need to make more doctors. Im sure we as a country have the ability to do just that but like everything else there is probably all kinds of vested interests in making that not happen. If only there was some huge public pool of funds that we could use for such a project .....

I'd like to see career field focus/preparation in public schooling. The amount of useful information out there has to dwarf what people needed to know 150 years ago. Might be time to start earlier training on the more technical fields.

 

[Dalarna3]

Reduce tuition for med school. Solves all kinds of problems.