Average Doctor’s Office Wait Time Dipped By a Minute in 2014
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Monkey Business/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The waiting is often the hardest part at the doctor’s office as anyone who’s had an appointment can attest.
The physician review website Vitalis.com says the average wait time to see a physician last year was an interminable 19 minutes and 16 seconds.
But take heart, America, that’s actually one minute faster than 2013.
And why is that? Vitalis CEO Heywood Donigan credits the Affordable Care Act boosting the number of walk-in clinics from 1,200 in 2011 to the current level of 1,600.
Chances are wait times will drop even further, provided the ACA remains in place, since Accenture puts the number of these facilities at 3,000 within two years.
Of course, doctor’s office wait times usually depend on the kind of care one is seeking. The longest average wait is for pain specialists at 23 minutes and 15 seconds while it only takes 11 minutes and 33 seconds on average to see your friendly neighborhood psychologist.
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