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Average patient appointment wait time is 31 days in 2025

The average appointment wait time in 2025 is 31 days, up 19% from 26 days in 2022, data shows.

Sara Heath
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Published: 27 May 2025

Appointment wait times are up 19% since 2022, with new data from AMN Healthcare showing it takes an average of 31 days for a patient to get an appointment on the books.

The assessment, which looked at 15 major metropolitan areas in the country, showed an increase in appointment wait times from 26 days in 2022. In 2004, appointment waits were 21 days, AMN Healthcare said.

"Average physician appointment wait times are the longest they have been since we began conducting the survey in 2004," Leah Grant, president of AMN Healthcare's Physician Solutions division (formerly known as Merritt Hawkins), said in a press release. "Longer physician appointment wait times are a significant indicator that the nation is experiencing a growing shortage of physicians."

The increase in appointment wait times is notable, considering the researchers looked at large, metropolitan areas. These regions have some of the highest patient-provider ratios, and yet patients still face a long wait to get an appointment on the calendar.

“It’s a sobering sign for the rest of the country when even patients in large cities must wait weeks to see a physician,” Grant said.

Boston had the longest documented appointment wait time, with patients having to wait an average of 65 days to see a physician. In Atlanta, which had the shortest average appointment wait time, that number was 12 days.

Medical specialty matters for appointment wait times

The AMN Healthcare report showed vastly different wait times based on medical specialty.

For example, in Portland, Oregon, patients have to wait an average of 291 days to see a dermatologist, while patients in Boston booking an OB/GYN appointment need to wait 231 days.

The average appointment wait times across all metros for each specialty are as follows:

  • Obstetrics/Gynecology: 42 days, up 33% since 2022.
  • Gastroenterology: 40 days (gastroenterology was added to the survey in 2025).
  • Dermatology: 36.5 days, up 6% since 2022.
  • Cardiology: 33 days, up 23% from 2022.
  • Family medicine: 23.5 days, up 14% since 2022.
  • Orthopedic surgery: 12 days, down 29% since 2022.

Although AMN Healthcare indicated that long appointment wait times are a sign of increasing healthcare workforce challenges, there are other factors influencing timely care access. Most patients prioritize booking appointments with healthcare providers who accept their insurance, which can be difficult especially for folks with public insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Across all of the metros studied, 82% of physicians accept Medicare. In Boston, that number is 94%, and in Atlanta, it's 68%.

It's less common for physicians to accept Medicaid, the assessment showed. Just over half (53%) of physicians across all 15 metropolitan areas studied accepted Medicaid. In Detroit, which had the highest rate of physicians accepting Medicaid, that number was 85%. In New York, it was 28%.

“The type of health insurance patients have may impact their access to physicians,” Grant concluded. “While Medicare is widely accepted by physicians, Medicaid is less so.”

Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.

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