Seeing a doctor doesn’t have to be so frustrating

livemint.com:

Why is it so frustrating to see a doctor these days—and can anything be done to make it easier? Despite years of efforts to improve efficiency and access, wait times to see a doctor have only gotten worse, amid a shortage of physicians in almost every specialty. One survey found the average time to secure a new-patient appointment is approaching one month in 15 of the largest cities in the U.S., and another survey found more than a third of Medicare patients are waiting more than a month to see a doctor. At least half of patients report experiencing “operational friction"—long hold times on the phone to reach a scheduler, difficulty getting a timely appointment and trouble accessing follow-up information, according to surveys from patient-experience firm Press Ganey.

Patients complain of endless time in the waiting room and little face time with the doctor once in the exam room. Digital patient portals—which are supposed to help make scheduling, follow-up and communication easier—have been hard to navigate for both patients and physicians. “People are almost expecting it to be an ordeal every time they need to make a doctor’s appointment," says Dr.

Thomas Lee, chief medical officer at Press Ganey and an internist and cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “It’s a perfect storm of factors leading to people asking, ‘Can I trust this system to take care of me?’ " One of the biggest reasons for the frustrating waits is a shortage of doctors across the country—making it tougher to get an appointment and increasing the amount of time wasted in office waiting rooms. Federal data show the U.S.