We're (NY) Number 1

[Guinevere]

The longest waits were in Boston, where patients wait an average of . . . 66 days to see a family doctor

Wow! I sure hope they have lots of Reader's Digests in the waiting room.

Decades worth.

yrs,
rubato

And anyway -- more people with health insurance, more people taking advantage of preventative medicine, more demand for family physicians. By every survey I've seen, Massachusetts also has one of the overall healthiest populations in the nation.

Isn't that the whole point???

[Gob]

or Salem.

That lot.

[oldr_n_wsr]

From the article:

Researchers called the practices and asked for the first available appointments for new patients needing routine care, such as a heart check-up or a well-woman visit.

The rates of Medicaid acceptance are likely to prove problematic as more and more Americans sign up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many physicians you have,” says Singleton. “If no one will take your insurance, you're going to end up in the same place, and that’s probably the ER.” And with more patients covered both by Medicaid and private insurance, he says, wait times are likely to get worse.

Well that's an uninteded consequence.

But Ken Hertz of the MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, which consults with physician practices, says wait times don't always increase in proportion to patient volume. As plan deductibles and co-pays have gone up in recent years, patient volume in outpatient settings have actually declined, he says.

They have gone down because people don't have the money to pay those higher deductables and higher co-pays.

Seems more people will be covered (good thing) but they will go for regular routine things less (not so good thing).

[Guinevere]

or Salem.

That lot.

Wrong state. Jarl is talking about Salem NEW HAMPSHIRE…..

[rubato]

"...


And anyway -- more people with health insurance, more people taking advantage of preventative medicine, more demand for family physicians. By every survey I've seen, Massachusetts also has one of the overall healthiest populations in the nation.

Isn't that the whole point???

I apologize. My intent was entirely mischievous. Longer waiting times are not inherently bad nor are short times good. We all hate to wait for anything so we all think waiting is bad but what we 'want' is often not good for us, witness the obesity epidemic.

In every state people with emergent conditions (or aggressive nasty people) can get appointments very quickly. Longer waiting times might even correlate with a more efficient and thus less expensive HC delivery system. If people were allowed to choose between a system where they could always get an appointment in 7 days or a system which cost 25% less but they were seen in 21 days which one would they choose?

In any case it is better for everyone to have access to HC, even with the minor inconvenience of having to wait for an appointment, than for some to have no HI at all.

yrs,
rubato

* But speaking of dermatology. I TOLD my wife to go into dermatology because THERE ARE NO DERMATOLOGICAL EMERGENCIES!. But does she listen to me? No! It HAS to be a surgical specialty.

Well, she's sorry about it now.

[Guinevere]

To get into dermatology you have to: a - be gorgeous and b - have the highest board scores. It's generally the most competitive residency program.

What I'd like to know is why so few women in cardiology? Because heart disease impacts men so much more than women?

[rubato]

My wife is gorgeous and had pretty good scores (more than good enough for derm). Pathology gets the smart people, not derm.



yrs,
rubato