Posted on 12/05/2025 7:14:00 PM PST by SeekAndFind
It starts with a call. A sore knee, a lingering cough, a changing mole - nothing urgent - but not quite ignorable. The receptionist is polite, but the first available appointment is three weeks away.
For millions of Americans, health care begins with a wait. For many, walk-in clinics have replaced family medicine.
“People have started to accept that,” Dr. Dorothy Serna, a primary care physician who left traditional practice for a concierge model, told The Epoch Times. “They think, ‘I can’t get my doctor, so I won’t even try. I’ll just go to urgent care. I’ll wait. I’ll Google it.’”
Such scenarios have become the norm rather than the exception. What was once a simple task—seeing your doctor when you need care—has evolved into a complex navigation challenge that requires strategy, persistence, and insider knowledge to overcome.
More than 100 million people lack a regular primary care provider, a figure that continues to climb each year. New patients wait an average of 23.5 days to see a primary care doctor, often longer in cities. Even existing patients face significant waits, although generally shorter than those of new patients.
The problem continues to grow. A 2025 survey by AMN Healthcare found the average wait for a physician appointment in major metro areas has stretched to 31 days—up 19 percent since 2022 and nearly 50 percent since 2004. In Boston, patients wait more than two months, the longest wait time in the nation.
Across all six specialties, average wait times range widely, from weeks in some cities to just days in others. The Epoch Times
If this is the situation in cities with the most doctors, rural patients can expect even worse outcomes. Only 9 percent of U.S. physicians practice in those communities, leaving patients to travel farther, wait longer, and often go without care altogether.
The problem is reshaping how Americans access health care. Primary care, traditionally the system’s front door, has become its biggest bottleneck. Routine problems escalate into emergencies, and preventive care gets delayed.
The shortage is structural. Nearly half of primary care doctors are older than 55, and few younger physicians are choosing the field. Only 15 percent remain in primary care five years after completing their training. The United States has 67 primary care doctors per 100,000 people—about half the rate of Canada. While many other wealthy nations devote 7 percent to 14 percent of their health budgets to primary care, the United States spends less than 5 percent.
Preventive medicine is collapsing into fragmented, reactive care, and patients are left waiting while disease advances.
Seeing a specialist presents its own set of challenges. Even after securing a coveted primary care appointment and obtaining a referral, patients face another round of lengthy delays.
Specialist wait times vary dramatically by field and location. New patients wait about two weeks for orthopedic surgery, a month for cardiology and dermatology, and six weeks for obstetrics and gynecology—and often longer in big cities.
The referral process itself creates additional friction. Insurance authorizations can add weeks to the timeline. Paperwork gets lost between offices. Some specialists require specific diagnostic tests before scheduling, adding another layer of delay.
Online patient forums overflow with stories of months-long waits for neurology consultations and gastroenterology appointments that stretch nearly a year.
Among the six specialties surveyed, some patients face extreme delays. The Epoch Times
Whether it’s finding a new doctor, landing a specialist appointment, or just breaking through your provider’s backlog, the challenge is access. Some patients manage access by knowing how the system works. The following tactics won’t fix the shortage, but they can shift the odds in our favor.
Start With People
The fastest way to find a doctor isn’t online—it’s through people. A 2022 study in Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation found that most patients turn to family, friends, or trusted professionals.
Try these approaches:
Go Digital
Hospital and insurer websites often have hidden scheduling tools—but you have to know where to look.
Expand Your Definition of ‘Doctor’
When appointment backlogs stretch for weeks, the key may be to expand what “care” looks like.
Be Flexible About How–and Where–You’re Seen
When options are limited, flexibility can make the difference between waiting weeks and getting care today.
Once you’ve identified the provider or practice that fits your needs, the next challenge is securing an appointment. That’s where persistence, flexibility, and a few behind-the-scenes strategies can make all the difference.
Ask whether your doctor’s office can do the same by contacting the specialist or testing center on your behalf. If that doesn’t work, an outside advocate may help. A 2024 review found that patients with advocates began treatment sooner in 70 percent of cases. The National Association of Healthcare Advocacy and the Patient Advocate Foundation connect patients with professional or nonprofit advocates.
The U.S. health care system may be slow and fragmented, but it is not impenetrable. With preparation, patience, and the right questions, it is still possible to find a way through. That might mean asking for multiple referrals, using portals to spot cancellations, or simply knowing how to frame urgency without panic.
These recommendations aren’t shortcuts so much as survival skills—the small, persistent acts patients use to keep the system from shutting them out entirely. It’s about finding agency in a system that often rewards persistence over passivity.
What’s Next: Getting the appointment is only the first victory. Making it count is the next—something we’ll tackle in the following article.
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Concierge doctor
RE: Concierge doctor
How much would that be?
My Dr dropped Medicaid patients years ago
I can usually get in next day, if not the same day if I call early
Almost no wait time
Small rural town, but but just 15 miles to any specialist you can name
Be a mojado and go to the local ER?
My annual Physical is ALWAYS with my PCP.
I just lucked out in my selection of Doctors.
We have a service in our town...they will take you to medical appointments, bank, hairdresser.....really worth it during the winter...and they wait for you and take you home...all for $5.
Not that long time ago, before Obamacare, there were practically no waiting lines.
The Obamacare practically introduced European model of Healthcare into US. Most people have insurance, but the insurance is kind of useless.
If you want to see a doctor soon, you have to pay a lot!
Otherwise, you may have to wait a lot, sometimes too long, so the healthcare may not even be necessary.
Hopefully you have good funeral coverage.
Few people I know died waiting for care!
The best PCP I ever had deserted me.
First, he answered the call of New Zealand in 2018. Went there for a year and took the family. Got paid a boatload of money, visited the Hobbiton set and more.
When he returned, he got his Sports Medicine Board Cert. and moved 110 mile away in 2020.
“Most people have insurance, but the insurance is kind of useless.”
My insurance is very useful.
“If you want to see a doctor soon, you have to pay a lot!”
I pay zero to see a doctor.
“Otherwise, you may have to wait a lot, sometimes too long, so the healthcare may not even be necessary.”
I have never had to wait a lot for needed treatment.
Also, do all of the above while foggy from some illness.
Total BS. In AZ where we now live and NY where we used to live, I can get same day primary care and 3 to 30 day specialty care. Not a crises from my prospective.
“For many, walk-in clinics have replaced family medicine.“People have started to accept that,” “
YES! I walked into our medical group’s walk in clinic, (same medical group as my doctor only a different facility closer to my house)
Saw a medical professional, right away. (I had a very painful/infected cyst). The medical professional said the on staff surgeon was there today, she would check to see if I could get in to see her. (same building/different floor)
I saw the surgeon right away, she operated right there and then. (local anesthesia) Got a prescription for anti-biotics and was on my way. Total time (I didn’t time it) about 1 1/2 hours.
They decided to only charge me for one co-pay.
I also got an appointment with this surgeon for an additional surgery (local A) the following Tuesday for the removal of a different type of cyst in a different place on my body.
With this kind of service, why would I wait 3 weeks to see MY doctor.
Hmmmm I can get GP appointment in less than a week as a Medicare Advantage patient.
Don’t they have urgent care offices? Most people think to run to the emergency room first, but I’ve always assumed that urgent care was there to keep people from using emergency rooms, and also to be used instead of making an appointment with a doctor. If the urgent care staff consider the condition serious, they can then refer them to the emergency room, or make an appointment with a doctor for them, and perhaps get that person an earlier appointment. There are a couple of urgent care offices in my small city, as well at the next city 15 miles away. I’ve never used them. I’ve fractured my right knee, my left wrist twice, and my right foot most recently, but never went to the emergency room for any of them. In each one of those injuries, I waited at least two weeks to call a doctor’s office about them, waiting to see if it would go away on their own, so if I have to wait a while to see someone, it’s no big deal to me, because I put making an appointment off myself.
Yes. Diagnostic tests could be scheduled within a day or two, now they can be weeks out.
Obamacare - change you can see.
Not a very diverse group in the picture. No fatties, no blacks, no men, no elderly or even middle aged.
@$1200 annually
Maybe in Texas?
Here, the waiting lists are terrible.
So bad, I had to sign for concierge service.
That adds $2000+ to my yearly medical bill, but it is worth every penny of it!
Waiting for neurologist 6 months minimum.
Dermatologists 4 months minimum.
Cancer care at least a month, maybe two (know when friend got cancer).
My best friend and few others I know died waiting for medical help!
So your insurance is useless, if you happened to die while waiting for care!!!
Yes, I friend of mine is waiting now for over 2 months for HEART test!!!
Hopefully she will not going to die?!
Like I said, she would be not the first of my friends and acquittances who died just like that!
Even better is a Teledoc sort of option, where you stay home and get someone within an hour. They can do blood test orders for physicals and other conditions, too.
You can even get prescriptions from Teledoc for longer term stuff.
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