How Not To Tear Your Family Apart

Increasing Physician Wait Times

It is difficult finding yourself in a caregiver role for which you are not trained. The increasing shortage of available physicians, especially specialists that are often required by aging parents and partners, is alarming. As the impact of longstanding demographic and other trends driving the physician shortage continues to grow, physician appointment wait times will increase thus increasing caregiver stress. “Physician appointment wait times are the longest they have been since we began conducting the survey,” stated Tom Florence, president of AMN Healthcare’s physician search division. Though the analysis looked at major U.S. cities, the wait times are likely worse elsewhere in the country…” The AMN Healthcare 2022 report cited a couple of important reasons. • In 1997, Congress placed a cap on funding for physician training, limiting the number of new physicians entering practice each year. The cap was lifted in 2021, but funding was provided for only 1,000 new training positions, far short of what is needed. • Changing physician practice styles. More physicians are choosing to work as employees rather than as independent practice owners. According to the 2018 Survey of America’s Physicians, employed physicians see 12% fewer patients on average than independent physicians.