If patients end up sitting around for too long, they may just walk out. According to a recent report by Vitals, long wait times led to 30 percent of patients leaving appointments at least once and 20 percent reported changing physicians.
The Vitals Wait Time Report included data from patient-reported wait times from 2017 as well as 675 online survey respondents from a March 2018 poll. The report offers insight into how patients view wait times, how that affects physician ratings and the best and worst states in terms of promptness.
Key findings included:
- 84 percent of respondents reported wait time as “somewhat important” or “very important” to the overall experience at a physician’s office.
- 30 percent of respondents have walked out of an appointment due to long wait times.
- One in five respondents have changed physicians because of long wait times.
- Five-star physicians had an average wait time of 13 minutes, 17 seconds. One-star rated physicians averaged 34 minutes, 11 seconds.
- Only 20 percent of patients with access to high-quality care walked out, while 53 percent of patient with poor access to healthcare left an appointment.
- Across specialties, patients waited an average of 18 minutes, 13 seconds for a physician, a decrease of 22 seconds from 2016.
- Milwaukee ranked as the best city in quickly seeing patients, with a waiting period of 14 min, 35 seconds. El Paso had the longest average wait times at 26 minutes, 50 seconds.
- Wisconsin ranked the fastest state to receive care at an average of 13 minutes, 23 seconds, while Alabama had the longest times at 22 minutes, 19 seconds.
Cara joined TriMed Media in 2016 and is currently a Senior Writer for Clinical Innovation & Technology. Originating from Detroit, Michigan, she holds a Bachelors in Health Communications from Grand Valley State University.