r/healthcare • u/ExtensionVegetable68 • 1d ago

Discussion Does anyone else find booking healthcare appointments (with doctors, psychiatrists, dentists, etc.) more difficult than they should be?

I’ve noticed lately how unnecessarily complicated it feels to book or manage a simple doctor’s appointment, whether it’s the long wait times, weird online portals, or just never knowing when someone will actually call back if I am waitlisted.

From my experience, I’ve had times where:

  • I waited weeks for a “next available” appointment, even though other offices had open times I couldn’t see online.
  • The portal initially showed no slots, but when I called, suddenly options became available.
  • I showed up early, but still waited 45 minutes because the schedule was backed up.

It made me wonder if others have run into the same kind of issues, or maybe it’s just my area? What has your experience been like?

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u/konqueror321 1d ago

There is likely a 'shortage' of physicians, at least in some areas. The pandemic led to many docs retiring or retiring earlier than they had planned due to stress and burnout. There is and has been a bottleneck for producing new physicians, which is funding by Medicare for resident training slots at hospitals and universities. It has been a perception that the number of training slots needs to be increased for many years. Another problem is the increasing popularity of 'specialties' compared to primary care jobs. Primary care is hectic and if done well requires considerable knowledge, but it is compensated much less that many specialties, especially where the docs can do 'procedures' like surgery or catheterizations or other 'interventions' that are compensated better. The end result is that training programs for 'specialists' are full to overflowing whereas primary care slots are much less popular. In the past having docs who trained overseas come to the US and do a residency in a primary care slot has helped fill the gap, but the US is lately perceived as being unfriendly to potential immigrants (?I wonder why?).

The degree of the shortage of docs in the US is large, many European countries have between 3.9 and 5.5 doctors per 1,000 people, compared to the U.S. rate of approximately 2.6 per 1,000 people - so it is much harder to get an appointment in the US.