Wait Time For New Patients To See A Physician

In cities, the average doctor wait-time is 18.5 days. "A survey of physician practices in 15 metropolitan areas across the country, which was taken before the health law expanded coverage, found that the average wait time for a new patient to see a physician in five medical specialties was 18.5 days...The good news is that wait times actually decreased slightly, down from an average of 20.4 days when the survey was last conducted in 2009, and down from 20.9 days in 2004. Singleton attributes the slight improvement to practices employing more mid-level providers like nurse practitioners, better health-care IT to help with scheduling and an increase in the number of urgent care centers." Jenny Gold in The Washington Post.