Long wait for Doctor Appointment in Some Cities
Posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
A new survey states that in some cities, scheduling a doctor’s appointment could take up to two months.
Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a national physician search and consulting firm, conducted the survey with 1,162 medical offices spread over 15 cities in the United States. Medical services included cardiology, dermatology, obstetrics/gynecology orthopedic surgery and family practice.
Boston experienced the longest wait time to see a doctor, with up to 70 days to see a gynecologist was the longest wait time. A patient would have to wait just over two months to see a family physician.
“Due to the doctor shortage, finding an available physician can be challenging today, even in large urban areas where most doctors practice,” said Mark Smith, president of Merritt Hawkins & Associates.
Smith points out that in 2006, Massachusetts implemented mandatory healthcare for all of its residents, insuring hundreds of thousands of previously uninsured residents. He also states that if healthcare reform were to be implemented on a national level, finding a doctor, and getting faster appointments, would be harder to find.
And let’s not forget, hospitals have a business to run and sometimes choose the route that’s the most profitable for them in regards to medical insurance. “Merely having medical coverage does not always ensure access to a physician,” Smith said. “Many doctors simply can no longer afford to see Medicaid patients.”
