PCP and Family Physician Wait Times increasing 50% in Many Markets

The majority of physicians in the U.S. are now salaried and working for large health systems (see:For the first time ever, less than half of physicians are independent). Also, wait times for an appointment with a family physician or primary care physician (PCP) are increasing (see:PCP wait times are 50% higher than 2014). This can be the source of great frustration for patients (see:Report: 20% of patients have changed doctors because of long wait times). These two facts may or may not be related. Here is an excerpt from the article on physician wait times:The average patient waits 29.3 days to see a family medicine physician in large cities, according to a recent survey....This wait has increased 50 percent since 2014, according to the report....Of the 15 major metropolitan areas studied, average wait times for family medicine physicians exceed 14 days in 12 markets.Patients wait the longest to see a family medicine physician in Boston, clocking in 109 days on average. The shortest wait times are in Minneapolis, where patients wait an average of eight days to see a primary care physician, according to the report.Patient wait times have increased most for PCPs, though they are longest still for dermatologists. There are a number of possible reasons why appointment wait times are increasing for family physicians and PCPs nationally. For example, there may be fewer physicians functioning as PCPs (see:Can the dwindling numbers of primary care physicians explain decreased l...

Source: Lab Soft News - January 28, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Medical Consumerism Public Health Source Type: blogs