JULY 21, 2022 – Statistically, the longer a patient waits to see a specialist, the more likely they are to fall off their care plan or experience additional complications. And wait times continue to increase; by some metrics, wait times to see a specialist have doubled in the past year.
“There are three main reasons for excessive wait times for specialists,” says Rebecca Chi, chief client experience officer with AristaMD, which offers a peer-to-peer collaboration platform for physicians to provide specialist-guided care to patients.
The first of these three reasons is long-standing shortages among specialists. But second is the types of patients who most need these kinds of services.
“These patient populations, often over 65 with an increase in comorbidities and a need for specialty care, often have trouble reaching out,” says Chi. “A lot of times people at that age create a connection with their primary care doctor, but are reticent to step outside that relationship they’ve worked so hard to establish and build trust to go see someone else.”
Picking up the phone or contacting that specialist isn’t easy for many, says Chi. “They don’t want to tell their story again,” she explains. “They don’t want to go back through their history; it’s almost laborious for them, and it’s intimidating.”
And the third factor for protracted delays should come as no surprise: COVID-19’s impact on the industry. “It’s just exacerbating something that was already an issue,” says Chi.