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30% of Patients Have Left a Doctor's Appointment Because of Wait Time

March 23, 2018
 

9th Annual Vitals Wait Time Report Released

30% of Patients Have Left A Doctor Appointment Because of Wait Time

 

NEW YORK, March XX, 2018 – There are several factors that come together to create a satisfying patient experience – clean office, friendly reception, attentive physician. Add to that list a reasonable wait time.

 

Now in its 9th year, the Vitals Index finds that 84 percent of people believe wait time is either “somewhat important” or “very important” to the overall experience at a doctor’s office. In fact, 30 percent of people reported they’ve walked out of an appointment due to long waits. What’s more, 1 in 5 report they’ve changed doctors because of long wait times.

The importance of wait time can be seen in the correlation between the amount of time a patient waits and a doctor’s average rating. Physicians with five-stars, the highest doctor rating on Vitals, had a 13-minute, 17 second wait on average. In contrast, doctors with a 1-star, the lowest rating, had a wait time average of 34-minute, 11 second wait.

Wait Time Effect on Doctor Rating

Star Rating

Average Wait Time

5

13 min, 17 sec

4

21 min, 32 sec

3

22 min, 11 sec

2

29 min, 34 sec

1

34 min, 11 sec

 

 

Surprisingly, people with poor access to health care were more likely to walk out of an appointment because of a long wait time. Only 20 percent of people who reported having excellent access to top-quality doctors said they’ve walked out of an appointment because of a long wait. In comparison, 53 percent of people who reported having poor access to health care have left a doctor’s office due to long waits.

 

STATE OF THE WAIT

Across specialties, the average wait time for a doctor in America currently stands at 18 minutes, 13 seconds. That’s down 22 seconds from last year, and the fourth consecutive decrease in wait times.

 

But how long a patient waits depends on where they live. For the second year in a row, Milwaukee ranked on top with the shortest wait time of 12 minutes 47 seconds. El Paso has been riding an even longer trend. For seven years, the city has placed at the bottom of the ranking. In fact, its average wait time increased one minute year-over-year, to an average 26 minutes 50 seconds.

 

2018 Cities with Shortest Wait Time

City

Average Wait Time

Milwaukee

14 min, 35 sec

Seattle

14 min, 38 sec

Saint Paul

14 min, 43 sec

Minneapolis

14 min, 55 sec

Portland

15 min, 6 sec

 

 

2018 Cities with Longest Wait Time

City

Average Wait Time

El Paso

26 min, 50 sec

Memphis

23 min, 44 sec

Miami

22 min, 29 sec

Las Vegas

21 min, 19 sec

Fort Worth

21 min, 1 sec

 

 

On the state level, Wisconsin leapfrogged New Hampshire for the lead this year. The Granite State added two minutes to their wait time over last year. The bad news is that for states at the bottom, the wait is only getting longer. Nearly all the states in the bottom five added one minute to their wait time year-over-year. For the fourth year, Alabama ranked last with an average wait time of 22 minutes, 19 seconds.

 

2018 States with Shortest Wait Time

State

Average Wait Time

Wisconsin

13 min, 23 sec

New Hampshire

14 min, 17 sec

Washington

15 min, 2 sec

Maine

15 min, 8 sec

Minnesota

15 min, 10 sec

 

 

2018 States with Longest Wait Time

State

Average Wait Time

Alabama

22 min, 19 sec

Mississippi

22 min, 13 sec

West Virginia

21 min, 23 sec

Louisiana

20 min, 35 sec

Nevada

20 min, 29 sec

 

 

 

So what do people do as they wait for a doctor? As a sign of the time, 44 percent said they look at their phone or another electronic device. But doctors shouldn’t cancel their magazine subscriptions just yet. About 55 percent said they browse through the stacks of glossies in waiting rooms.

 

Vitals’ annual Physician Wait Time Report, now in its ninth year, was compiled from patient-reported wait times from 2008 through the end of 2017. Vitals also surveyed over 675 online respondents in a March 2018 poll.

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