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- Wait times for medical visits are common statewide as the health care labor force shrinks and the population is older than the national average.
- However, people don’t have to settle for long wait times. Wisconsin Watch spoke to two experts about strategies to lessen wait times.
- They advise patients to ask follow-up questions when they set up an appointment, to get on a waitlist, to check with their primary care provider if it’s OK to wait, to use their connections and to consider seeking care from another health system.
Have you ever called to schedule a medical appointment and learned the next opening is months away?
Back in July, we asked readers how long they’ve waited to see a doctor. Responses poured in from across the state.
One reader in Mount Pleasant told us she waited 10 months to see a dermatologist. A reader in Kenosha said when her partner tried to schedule a visit to the neurologist after several fainting episodes, he learned he’d have to wait until June 2027 — nearly a year away. A reader in Auburn said he worries his wife, who began showing signs of dementia last year, won’t live long enough to go to the neurologist appointment he scheduled 14 months out.
Sometimes a wait is unavoidable. Health systems nationwide are struggling to fill job openings as baby boomers retire and an aging population demands more medical care. In Wisconsin, the labor force is shrinking, and the population is older than the national average, exacerbating the problem. Meanwhile, some rural hospitals have closed, making surrounding health systems even busier.
But sometimes it’s possible to get an appointment sooner than you’re offered, especially if you’re willing to be persistent or creative. Wisconsin Watch talked to two experts about what to do if you’re facing a long wait for medical care. Here’s what they said.
How long a wait is normal?
Typical wait times vary depending on where you live and the kind of care you’re seeking. 3Dhealth, a Chicago-based consulting company that helps health systems across the country determine how many doctors to recruit, has been gathering data on wait times in Wisconsin since 2012 through a “secret shopper” process. Posing as new patients seeking appointments, 3Dhealth calls doctors’ offices within its client health systems and records the outcome.
From 2012 to 2024, the company made more than 8,000 calls to Wisconsin physician offices covering 62 specialties across eight Wisconsin health systems. About 7% of those calls went unanswered. When callers reached a staff member, they found about 15% of the practices were closed to new patients. Those that accepted new patients had an average wait of 33 days. Half of patients waited 21 days or longer, and 1 in 10 waited more than 75 days.
Primary care doctors had shorter average waits than most specialists (33 days versus 42 days) but were more likely to be closed to new patients (roughly 24% versus 11%).
In 2024, the company called doctors offices in just two Wisconsin health systems, one predominantly rural and the other urban. Doctors in the rural system tended to have longer waits (a median of 27 versus 22 days), and they were more likely to be closed to new patients (roughly 17% versus 11%).
The problem seems to be growing nationwide, said 3Dhealth President and CEO Ron Flower. Wait times are getting longer, fewer practices are accepting new patients, and patients are having more trouble getting a hold of practices.
“All of that has been getting worse in general across the country, especially over the past five years since COVID,” Flower said.
In the Madison area, patient advocate Sarah C. Schaefer agrees that wait times for primary care are getting longer. Schaefer, who worked as a nurse practitioner for about 20 years before starting Ascent Patient Advocates, now helps people navigate the health care system and coordinate their care. Her clients often have to wait two or three months for certain specialist appointments — if the practices are open at all.
“It’s a problem that I definitely deal with and work through with my clients on a regular basis,” Schaefer said.
Explore your options
If you’d like to see a provider sooner, experts recommend asking follow-up questions. Employees who schedule appointments may not suggest alternatives on their own, Flower said, as your call might be one of thousands they receive in a day.
“They’re trying to get you on and off that phone as quickly as possible so that they can get to the doctor or the charts, or they can get to the next person calling in,” Flower said. “If you prompt them … all of a sudden, their brain clicks in that way: ‘Oh yeah, I can help you.’”
3Dhealth found that of the practices that were closed to new patients, those in rural areas were less than half as likely as those in urban areas to suggest alternatives if the caller didn’t ask.
“Oftentimes, if you do that little bit of pushback, show a little bit of anxiety, they’re going to say, ‘Well, I’ve got an appointment tomorrow (that) we’re holding for an established patient or a walk-in. But why don’t you come on in at that time?’” Flower said.
If you’re able to travel, consider asking if an earlier appointment is available at a different clinic within the same health system. Alternatively, consider asking if you might be able to see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant instead of a doctor.
“This varies by insurance or potentially health system … I would say sometimes appropriate, sometimes not, but something to explore for sure,” Schaefer said. If the clinic says yes, you may still need to check with your insurer to be sure it will cover the visit.
Get on a waitlist
One of the top tips for those facing lengthy waits: Get on a waitlist. Many practices keep lists of patients hoping for earlier appointments, but they may not mention that option unless you ask.
Some practices have automated waitlists that send a text message offering an earlier appointment when one becomes available and a brief window in which the patient can respond to accept the offer.
Even if there’s no waitlist, patients can call back to see if the options have changed.
“That’s one thing that I do frequently,” Schaefer said. “People can cancel appointments on their patient portals … all times of the day and night, so appointment slots do open up.”
Keeping a waitlist can benefit clinics too. “It’s smart on their end,” Flower said. “We get things that come up. It’s called life. So let’s have a way of filling our practice and making our practice more productive and profitable and helpful.”
Find out if it’s OK to wait
Sometimes patients think their issues are more urgent than they are, Flower said, noting that by the time patients finally pick up the phone to request an appointment, they may have already put it off for quite a while.
“Health care professionals oftentimes know the urgency of your situation; they have a good sense of it, right?” Flower said. “So in some ways, it’s trusting the process.”
If you’re worried, Schaefer recommends contacting the referring provider to check that the referral was coded correctly.
“Go with your gut. … Call back to your primary (care provider) and say, ‘Hey, you made it sound like this is an urgent issue. They’re telling me three months. I just want to let you know,’” Schaefer said. “Maybe they didn’t click that ‘urgent’ button, or maybe this is a scenario where the doctor needs to pick up the phone and call another provider and chat.”
Use your connections
If you have a family member who’s already seeing the kind of provider you need to see, Schaefer suggests asking if the provider will take you as a patient too. Some providers give preference to the family members of their current patients, accepting them even when they’re otherwise closed to new patients.
Consider a different health system
If all else fails, Schaefer said, consider looking outside your current health system. This can be complicated, as insurance coverage varies. Schaefer recommends contacting your health insurance provider to ask for more information.
Alternatively, patients seeking prompter primary care can consider purchasing a membership at one of the growing number of “direct primary care” practices. At these practices, patients pay a monthly fee that covers unlimited access to certain primary care services, with no health insurance involved. While some parts of Wisconsin now have several direct primary care practices, other parts may have few or none.
Tell us about your experience
Wisconsin Watch plans to continue covering the state’s health workforce and efforts to fill gaps. If you’ve waited a long time to see a doctor, or if you’ve found a way to speed up the process, email me at nyahr@wisconsinwatch.org to tell me about it.
Natalie Yahr reports on pathways to success statewide for Wisconsin Watch, working in partnership with Open Campus. Email her at nyahr@wisconsinwatch.org.
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Waiting months for a doctor’s appointment? Experts offer advice is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
