Delayed care is inferior care. 

Even seemingly routine or nonurgent symptoms can signal something more serious that could be exacerbated without timely care. As such, it is essential to address patients’ queries effectively and promptly.

But sometimes the biggest barrier to receiving care is the first step—making an appointment. Obtaining an appointment as a new patient is especially challenging. First you need to identify a potential physician. Then you have to navigate the oft-labyrinthine channels for scheduling an appointment. Only then does the wait begin for an initial new-patient appointment—and it may be a lengthy one. 

How long? That depends. Access is affected by many variables and is constantly in flux. Meaningful wait time data has long been hard to come by. 

So ECG conducted its own consumer research. 

Adopting a “secret shopper” approach, we put ourselves in the shoes of the average patient trying to book an appointment. We contacted nearly 4,000 physician practices in 23 major cities across the US, posing as a new, commercially insured patient seeking care for general, nonemergent conditions that typically don’t require a physician referral.

The result is a realistic view of where and in what specialties patients face the most significant challenges to accessing routine care.

_{Edited by: Matt Maslin}