SEE YOUR DOCTOR SOONER

Having a hard time getting an appointment? It's not you-it's our health care system. Delays in scheduling medical visits are longer than they used to be. Here's how to better navigate the system and get treated ASAP.

- JUDY MANDELL

LAST YEAR, while on a trip, internist Shaman Singh, M.D., developed red bumps on his feet. The 44-year-old chalked it up to bug bites, but when the rash spread up his legs and the itchy bumps blistered and became painful, he knew something was seriously wrong.

He rushed to the ER when he got home to Arlington, VA, but was shooed out without a diagnosis. He was given only a list of dermatologists to call. "I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me," says Dr. Singh. "The earliest appointment was 10 days away."

In desperation, Dr. Singh scoured the Internet and stumbled upon Zocdoc, a website that helps patients find and book doctors. He found a dermatologist who could see him immediately; that doctor took two biopsies and the results confirmed that Dr. Singh had Henoch-Schönlein purpura, a rare skin disease that causes inflammation of blood vessels. Since this condition can damage kidneys, he was referred to a nephrologist, who started him on protective medications.

Although Dr. Singh is a doctor, he had no more clout than the rest of us facing long delays for care. The average wait for a new-patient visit in five medical specialties in 15 metro areas is 26 days, an 8% increase since 2017 and a 24% increase since 2004, a 2022 survey from AMN Healthcare/Merritt Hawkins shows.

WHY THE ENDLESS WAIT?

One reason this is currently a problem is that folks who put off getting medical care during the pandemic are now going to the doctor. "People started returning to see physicians just as they were returning to work, restaurants, and schools," says Tom Florence, president of AMN Healthcare's physician search division of Merritt Hawkins.