Despite Bostons reputation as a medical powerhouse awash in specialists, patients cant get in to see them at least not quickly.
The Texas-based consulting ?rm Merritt, Hawkins & Associates surveyed 1,062 physician specialists of?ces in 15 major cities and found Boston patients wait longest for appointments. The study, released this week, found that new patients in Boston wait an average 37 days to see a cardiologist, 45 days to see an obstetrician-gynecologist, and 50 days to see a dermatologist the longest waits of the 15 cities. Patients schedule appointments with an orthopedic surgeon in Boston 24 days in advance on average, the second longest delay after Los Angeles, where patients wait 43 days.
Overall, the survey said, Boston has the longest waits while patients in Washington, D.C., can see doctors the fastest, within 8 to 15 days. Since the numbers are averages, some cardiologists in Boston, for example, had four-month waits, while others could see patients in as soon as seven days.
The survey did not address whether the delays harm patients, or why certain cities are worse than others. But executives at Merritt, Hawkins, which recruits staff for hospitals and doctors of?ces, and health-care specialists pointed to several possible reasons for delays in Boston and other cities, including shortages of specialists as older doctors cut back on hours or retire. Patients also may be demanding more appointments, now that managed care insurers have loosened restrictions on access to specialists.
Frankly, Im at a loss to explain it, said Paul Ginsburg, president of The Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpro?t research organization based in Washington, D.C. Boston is a great place to practice. But this is a longstanding pattern. Obviously there seems to be some kind of shortage.
This goes to the main page of the Boston Globe. Go half way down the page, there is a graph of average waits in major cities.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/
The Texas-based consulting ?rm Merritt, Hawkins & Associates surveyed 1,062 physician specialists of?ces in 15 major cities and found Boston patients wait longest for appointments. The study, released this week, found that new patients in Boston wait an average 37 days to see a cardiologist, 45 days to see an obstetrician-gynecologist, and 50 days to see a dermatologist the longest waits of the 15 cities. Patients schedule appointments with an orthopedic surgeon in Boston 24 days in advance on average, the second longest delay after Los Angeles, where patients wait 43 days.
Overall, the survey said, Boston has the longest waits while patients in Washington, D.C., can see doctors the fastest, within 8 to 15 days. Since the numbers are averages, some cardiologists in Boston, for example, had four-month waits, while others could see patients in as soon as seven days.
The survey did not address whether the delays harm patients, or why certain cities are worse than others. But executives at Merritt, Hawkins, which recruits staff for hospitals and doctors of?ces, and health-care specialists pointed to several possible reasons for delays in Boston and other cities, including shortages of specialists as older doctors cut back on hours or retire. Patients also may be demanding more appointments, now that managed care insurers have loosened restrictions on access to specialists.
Frankly, Im at a loss to explain it, said Paul Ginsburg, president of The Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpro?t research organization based in Washington, D.C. Boston is a great place to practice. But this is a longstanding pattern. Obviously there seems to be some kind of shortage.
This goes to the main page of the Boston Globe. Go half way down the page, there is a graph of average waits in major cities.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/
