Patients are waiting an average of 24 days to schedule an appointment with a doctor, according to a study of commonly used specialty physicians in 15 major U.S. cities.
The time to schedule an appointment has jumped 30% in 15 U.S. metropolitan areas from 18.5 days in 2014 amid a national doctor shortage fueled by aging baby boomers, population growth and millions of Americans with health insurance. The survey by MerrittHawkins, a unit of healthcare staffing firm AMN Healthcare polled more than 1,400 physicians looking at average wait times among five specialties:family medicine, dermatology, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedic surgery and cardiology.
