Boston had the longest wait time for an appointment with an ob.gyn. 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 46 days for the 20 Boston-area ob.gyn. offices contacted between June 1, 2013, and Nov. 5, 2013. That was 11 days longer than the city with the next-longest wait – Portland, Ore., at 35 days – but 24 days shorter than Boston’s time in the 2009 version of the survey, Merritt Hawkins reported.
The shortest wait – only 8 days – was in Los Angeles, with Dallas, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, and Miami right behind at 10 days. The average wait time for all 15 cities was 17.3 days, which was down from the 27.5 days seen in 2009, Merritt Hawkins said.
For the survey, Merritt Hawkins selected 14-20 ob.gyns. 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 well-woman gynecologic exam.
