Physician wait times increase as numbers of doctors decrease: survey

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Patients around the nation are waiting longer and longer to see doctors in family medicine and in other specialties, according to a new survey.

In just the last three years, the time needed to schedule a physician appointment increased by 19% in 15 of the largest cities across the country. That time has grown by 48% since 2004, according to the 2025 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times published by AMN Healthcare, a national staffing company.

The results indicate something that has been long observed and forecasted: The United States does not have enough doctors to serve its growing population, according to the leader of AMN Healthcare's Physician Solutions division, which formerly was known as Merritt Hawkins.

Leah Grant
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"Average physician appointment wait times are the longest they have been since we began conducting the survey," AMN Healthcare's Physician Solutions President Leah Grant said in a statement. "Longer physician appointment wait times are a significant indicator that the nation is experiencing a growing shortage of physicians."

Family medicine findings

In all 15 cities, the average wait time was 23.5 days to schedule an appointment with a family physician. That was up from 20.6 days in 2022, but lower than 29.3 days in 2017. The wait was 19.5 days in 2013 and 20.3 days in 2009, according to AMN Healthcare.

The report noted family and internal medicine physicians make up the single largest medical specialty in the United States, with more than 120,000 family doctors in active patient care. “It therefore may take less time to schedule an appointment with a family physician than with a specialist,” the report said.

There also is increasing influence and use of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs).

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“A growing number of primary care practices are employing PAs and NPs to take initial appointments for physicals or other routine care, while surgical specialty, internal medicine subspecialty and diagnostic specialty practices may be less likely use PAs and NPs for this purpose,” the report said. “This can free up the schedules of family medicine physicians and other primary care physicians who might otherwise be booked further out.”

As a result, family medicine had 2025 shorter appointment wait times than four other specialties included in the survey: cardiology (32.7 days), dermatology (36.5 days), obstetrics/gynecology (41.8 days), and gastroenterology (40 days). Orthopedic surgery had the shortest wait time at 12 days, according to the survey.

Location, location, location

The survey includes data from 1,391 physician offices located in 15 metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minnesota, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

“The metropolitan areas included in the survey have some of the highest physician-to-population ratios in the country,” the AMN Healthcare news release said. Grant said if patients are having difficulty scheduling appointments in those highly populated areas, it can be assumed that access to physicians may be even more problematic in areas with fewer doctors.

“It’s a sobering sign for the rest of the country when even patients in large cities must wait weeks to see a physician,” Grant said.

Waiting for good health

The report studied specialties and patients with medical conditions that that did not require emergency treatment. AMN Healthcare would not comment directly on clinical effects of wait times on patient health.

“However, it is generally accepted that prompt attention to medical concerns is preferable to delayed attention,” with the National Academy of Medicine and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality publishing research about the preference and benefits of timely care.

“Physician appointment wait times therefore are more than a matter of consumer convenience — they may have a direct impact on quality of patient care and patient outcomes,” the report said.

Consolidation in health care

The report included commentary about “the growing consolidation of physician practices.” Doctors’ offices with one, two or three physicians were common in the past but largely have been replaced with largers groups of 10, 20, 50 or more physicians.

“When an individual contacts these large groups to schedule a new patient appointment at the first date

available, they typically are assigned to the physician who has the most open schedule,” the report said. “Often, this may be a physician new to the practice who is still building a patient base.

“The survey therefore is likely to indicate appointment wait times for the most open physician among many in a particular medical group,” the report said. “A patient of a physician with a more established patient base, and a busier schedule, may experience longer appointment wait times than are indicated in the survey.”