How Long Will You Wait to See a Doctor?

March 29, 2010— -- With passage of a new health care reform bill promising coverage to tens of millions of Americans, questions remain as to whether the nation's doctors can accommodate the influx of patients and give them better health.

While coverage is expected to extend to between 31 and 35 million Americans without insurance currently, a shortage of primary care doctors may mean extended wait times to actually see a doctor -- if new patients can get in at all.

Concerns are often based on what happened in Massachusetts, as wait times for new doctors in Boston reached almost 50 days last year, shortly after passage of a universal health care bill in the state. (Philadelphia had the next longest wait time of 27 days.) This observation is often coupled with the fact that the commonwealth boasts the highest doctor-patient ratio in the nation.

"That situation, extrapolated to the rest of the country, it has the potential to make for some very long wait times for primary care," said Dr. Kevin Pho, an internal medicine physician in Nashua, N.H. "It's going to significantly press our primary care system."

Pho said he has seen patients who reside in northern Massachusetts coming over the state line to New Hampshire for their care because of the wait times.

While the legislation has many worried about access to care, the head of one major physicians group said it needs to be looked at as a start rather than a finished product.

"This legislation, which is now law, is really only the beginning," said Dr. Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

She said adjustments are going to need to come to help primary care doctors in their practices. Otherwise, shortages may become an issue.

Heim praised the bill for a number of steps, including a 10 percent bonus for doctors who mostly work as primary care providers and compensation for community health centers, which often provide free care now.

But, she said, "Obviously it's not nearly enough."

Specialists, she said, still make two to three times more than their counterparts in primary care, and more will need to be done in the future to address that.

"We're going to have to build on that, because what we're seeing now is a good start…but it's not enough when you realize that students are coming out with this tremendous medical student loan debt," said Heim.