Vitals Report: National Average Wait Time Down Nearly 10% since 2009

When it comes to waiting for a doctor’s appointment, most patients are waiting 19 minutes, 19 seconds, according to Vitals 7th annual wait time report

This is down nearly 10 percent from the average 21 minutes and 18 seconds patients once spent in the waiting room.

The report found large variations in wait time depending on the doctor’s specialty. Radiation oncologists (12 minutes, 29 seconds) and sports medicine specialists  (13 minutes, 4 seconds), had the shortest wait times out of the 139 types of specialists Vitals analyzed. Plastic Surgeons were among those specialists with shortest wait times ( 13 min, 13 sec). Spine surgeons had the longest wait times, averaging 29 minutes, 34 seconds.  Dermatologists wait times were in line with the majority of other specialists.  

Vitals studied over 6 million reviews left by patients for doctors to see how wait times correlate to star ratings and found that doctors with five-stars, the highest doctor rating on Vitals, had a 13-minute wait on average. In contrast, doctors with a 1-star, the lowest rating, averaged a 33-minute wait.

The findings also indicate an important correlation between wait time and patient satisfaction. In fact, positive reviews start to skew negative after patients are left waiting more than 20 minutes. For instance, 49 percent of patients who had a 15-minute wait rated their doctor positively. Yet, only 27 percent of patients who waited for 45 minutes ultimately left a positive physician review.

By contrast, patients mentioning wait times in positive ratings were likely to “highly recommend” the doctor. The doctors were often labeled “friendly,” “kind” and “caring.” Patients said an extended wait was “worth it” for a doctor who was “thorough” and “took time to listen” and “didn’t rush” during appointments.

Location matters, too.  Out of the 50 largest cities across the U.S., Seattle had the shortest average wait time at 12 minutes, 47 seconds. Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Austin and Omaha were also in the top five. For the fifth year in a row, El Paso had the highest reported wait time at 25 minutes, 5 seconds, on average. Miami, Memphis, Las Vegas and Detroit were also among the cities with the highest average wait time.

New Hampshire defended its position as the state with the shortest wait time at 13 minutes, 25 seconds. Wisconsin, Maine, Washington and South Dakota also had short wait times across their states. For a second year, Alabama was ranked at the bottom of the states, averaging 21 minutes, 1 second. Mississippi, WestVirginia, Arizona and Nevada were also in the bottom five.

Vitals’ annual Physician Wait Time Report, now in its seventh year, was compiled from patient-reported wait times in 2015.