Boston had the longest wait time for an appointment with a family physician in a survey conducted in 15 metropolitan areas by physician job placement firm Merritt Hawkins.
The average wait time for a new-patient appointment was 66 days for the 20 Boston-area FP offices contacted between June 1, 2013, and Nov. 5, 2013. That was 40 days longer than the city with the next-longest wait – New York at 26 days – and 3 days longer than Boston’s time in the 2009 version of the survey, Merritt Hawkins reported.
The shortest wait – only 5 days – was in Dallas, with San Diego right behind at 7 days. The average wait time for all 15 cities was 19.5 days, which was down from the 20.3 days seen in 2009, Merritt Hawkins said.
For the survey, Merritt Hawkins selected 14-20 family physicians from each metropolitan area at random from Internet-based listings. Each practice was called and asked for the first available appointment for a new patient who wanted a routine physical.
