Why specialist wait times differ by metro area
Specialist wait times differ between metro areas, and several factors may contribute, such as the balance between demand and available appointment slots and how a survey defines its geography. The sources supplied here do not measure these factors, so they remain hypotheses. In the AMN Healthcare 2025 survey of 15 large US metro areas, Boston had the longest average wait across specialties at 65 days, and Atlanta had the shortest at 12 days. The sources do not establish what causes the metro-level gap.
How the wait is measured
The request-to-appointment interval is the number of days from a patient’s request for a new-patient appointment to the date that appointment is available. Results are only comparable when the same measurement is applied to each metro. Results are comparable only when the same measurement is applied to each metro. The 2014 edition of the survey covered 1,399 offices across 15 metros with five specialties, so its figures should not be mixed with 2025 results without checking the methodology.
Patient demand relative to population
Waits depend on the demand-to-capacity ratio: the number of requests compared with the number of open slots. A metro with many residents seeking specialist care could draw more requests into a comparable pool of offices, which might lengthen waits, but the sources do not test this. The fact sheet does not break down demand by population, so the 65-day and 12-day figures cannot be attributed to population size alone. Boston had the longest waits in the 2014 edition and the longest average across specialties in 2025, but the editions differ in scope, so this does not by itself show a stable pattern.
Metro boundaries versus city limits
A metro boundary typically includes suburbs and surrounding counties, so a metro average blends dense urban offices with outlying ones. A figure labeled “Boston” in a metro survey is not the same as a figure for the city proper. Before comparing a metro result with municipal data, confirm the geography the survey uses. The fact sheet does not define the exact boundaries applied in the AMN survey, so check its published methodology.
How long do Americans wait to see a specialist?
The baseline for a new-patient wait across large US metros is 31 days, based on the AMN Healthcare 2025 survey of 15 large US metro areas. This is the average wait for a new-patient physician appointment across those metros, so it describes large metropolitan areas rather than the country as a whole.
The same survey series shows the wait lengthening over two decades:
| Survey year | Average new-patient wait (days) | Change vs. 2004 (days) |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 21 | 0 |
| 2022 | 26 | +5 |
| 2025 | 31 | +10 |
The average rose by 5 days between 2004 and 2022, then by another 5 days in the three years from 2022 to 2025. The +10 days since 2004 is the net change between the first and latest data points.
The source is a GlobeNewswire press release from AMN Healthcare dated 2025-05-27, republished by santé log. The 2004 and 2022 comparison points come from the same release.
Which US cities have the longest wait times?
Boston has the longest average wait for a specialist appointment among the 15 large US metro areas surveyed by AMN Healthcare in 2025, at 65 days. Atlanta has the shortest, at 12 days. The gap between the two is 53 days. These figures are averages across all specialties covered by the survey, so they describe the metro as a whole rather than any single specialty.
| Rank | Metro area | Average wait, all specialties (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Longest | Boston | 65 days |
| Shortest | Atlanta | 12 days |
| Gap | Boston minus Atlanta | 53 days |
Against the 31-day survey-wide average in 2025, Boston’s 65-day average is therefore more than double the 31-day survey-wide figure, while Atlanta’s 12 days sits well below it. The survey measures new-patient waits, so these numbers reflect how long a patient without an existing relationship with a practice typically waits, not how long established patients wait for routine follow-ups.
To compare a metro against these benchmarks, check whether a source reports averages across specialties or only for one specialty. A single-specialty figure can differ substantially from the all-specialty average, so mixing the two produces misleading rankings.
Which specialties have the longest waits?
In the AMN Healthcare 2025 survey of 15 large US metro areas, ob/gyn has the longest average wait for a new-patient physician appointment at 42 days. Orthopedic surgery has the shortest at 12 days, a gap of 30 days between the two ends of the ranking.
Specialty averages, ranked
| Rank | Specialty | 2025 average wait (days) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ob/gyn | 42 |
| 2 | Gastroenterology | 40 |
| 3 | Dermatology | 36.5 |
| 4 | Cardiology | 33 |
| 5 | Family medicine | 23.5 |
| 6 | Orthopedic surgery | 12 |
Gastroenterology and ob/gyn are close, separated by 2 days. Family medicine and orthopedic surgery sit far below the other four specialties.
Longest individual waits
Averages do not show the most extreme cases. The survey’s longest individual waits were:
- Dermatology, Portland, OR: 291 days
- Ob/gyn, Boston: 231 days
- Gastroenterology, Detroit: 208 days
- Cardiology, Washington, D.C.: 175 days
Ob/gyn appears in both lists. It has the longest average and the second-longest individual wait. Dermatology ranks third by average but has the longest individual wait, so the two rankings do not match.
The source does not publish metro-by-specialty averages alongside these cases, so a 291-day dermatology wait in Portland cannot be checked against Portland’s own dermatology average.
Boston and Dallas: 2014 results and 2014 vs 2025 comparability
Boston had the longest specialist waits in the 2014 AMN Healthcare edition, at 72 days for dermatology and 66 days for family practice, and it still had the longest average across specialties in 2025, at 65 days. Dallas had the shortest average waits in 2014. The source does not give a 2025 figure for Dallas, so its ranking change cannot be measured.
Boston: from 2014 to 2025
- 2014: Longest wait of the 15 metros surveyed. Dermatology averaged 72 days and family practice 66 days.
- 2025: Longest average across specialties, at 65 days. The sheet gives no Boston figure for individual specialties.
Boston kept the top position, so its rank did not shift. Its waits are the point of comparison for the other metros.
Dallas: the 2014 benchmark
- 2014: Shortest average waits of the surveyed metros. The source gives no numeric value for Dallas.
- 2025: No Dallas figure appears in the source, so any claim about its change in rank would be unsupported.
Comparability caveat
| Element | 2014 edition | 2025 edition |
|---|---|---|
| Offices or sample | 1,399 offices | Not stated in the source |
| Metros | 15 | 15 |
| Specialties | 5 (not listed in the sheet) | 6 listed in the 2025 specialty averages |
Comparing Boston’s 2014 dermatology figure (72 days) with the 2025 dermatology average across all surveyed metros (36.5 days) mixes a single metro with an average and different survey scopes, so the gap should not be read as a Boston-only change.
What drives longer waits? Medicaid acceptance and supply
Two structural factors are usually cited to explain why new-patient waits differ between metro areas: Medicaid acceptance by physician offices and physician supply per capita. The AMN Healthcare 2014 data reports Medicaid acceptance for two metros, but it cannot test whether acceptance affects waits. For the second, the source material provides no per-capita figures, so the link remains a hypothesis.
Medicaid acceptance
The 2014 edition of the survey (1,399 offices, 15 metros, 5 specialties) reported Medicaid acceptance ranging from 73% in Boston to 23% in Dallas.
| Metro (2014 edition) | Medicaid acceptance | Wait position in 2014 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | 73% | Longest average wait (72 days dermatology, 66 days family practice) |
| Dallas | 23% | Shortest average waits |
- Gap: 50 percentage points separate the two metros.
- Evidence: The gap is reported directly. The survey does not state that Medicaid acceptance causes the wait differences.
- Paradox: The metro with the highest acceptance also had the longest waits. Two metros in one 2014 edition are not enough to say whether Medicaid acceptance affects waits, in either direction.
The assumption that low acceptance shortens available slots for new patients is plausible, but this data does not test it.
Physician supply per capita
The fact sheet contains no physician counts or ratios by metro. The assumption that fewer physicians per resident leads to longer waits cannot be confirmed or rejected from the available data.
To test it, divide the number of practicing physicians in each metro by its resident population, expressed per 100,000 residents, then rank metros by that ratio and compare the ranking with the wait figures. Count only physicians accepting new patients where possible, because licensed physicians who are not taking patients do not add capacity.
How to factor wait times into where you live
Wait-time data is most useful when you weight it against your household’s own medical needs. The AMN Healthcare survey measures new-patient appointment waits by specialty and metro area, so a metro with a short average for one specialty may still be a poor fit if your household relies on a specialty with a long average there.
Weighting the specialties your household uses
Start by listing which specialists each household member sees at least once a year, then rank them by how often they are needed. A family with a pregnancy planned, for example, should weight ob/gyn more heavily than a household with no current need for it. Specialties the survey tracks include ob/gyn, gastroenterology, dermatology, cardiology, family medicine, and orthopedic surgery. Give the most-used specialty the highest weight, then compare metros on that specialty first and on the rest second.
Checking wait data against current local listings
The survey is a snapshot, and its figures reflect the year they were collected. Before deciding, check current availability:
| Step | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm the survey year | Use the most recent edition for your metro | Older editions reflect older conditions |
| Call local offices | Ask for the next new-patient appointment | Real availability can differ from averages |
Checking whether your insurance is accepted
A short wait only helps if the practice accepts your plan. Check your insurer’s online provider directory for each specialty in your shortlisted metros, then confirm acceptance by phone, since directories can lag behind practice changes. Record the practice name, specialty, and acceptance status alongside the wait time so each metro is compared on the same basis.
Frequently asked questions
What does the 31-day figure measure?
It is the average wait for a new-patient physician appointment across 15 large US metro areas in the AMN Healthcare 2025 survey. It is not a national average, and the sources give no equivalent figure for other regions.
Why does Boston show a much longer wait than Atlanta?
The 2025 survey reports 65 days in Boston and 12 days in Atlanta, but the sources do not identify the cause of that gap. Factors such as the demand-to-capacity ratio, metro boundaries, Medicaid acceptance and physician supply are not tested in the data.
Can I compare the 2014 and 2025 results directly?
Not without checking the methodology first. The 2014 edition covered 1,399 offices across 15 metros and 5 specialties, and the 2025 averages are reported differently, so a difference between the two editions may reflect a change in survey scope rather than in waits.
