The average wait time to see a provider stretched to 31 days in 2025 – up 44% since 2004; APPs are one bright spot for filling the recruitment gap
The wait time to see a provider has grown longer, amid a persistent shortage of providers, including physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs). In 2025, a patient can expect to wait a full month – 31 days – to see a provider.
That number stems from a recent report by AMN Healthcare. It’s based on data from 15 major metropolitan areas – and across six medical specialties:
“The average time needed to schedule a physician appointment in 15 top metropolitan areas has grown by 19% since 2022 and by 48% since 2004.”
Patients for certain specialists can expect even longer wait times:
“For example, the average time needed to schedule an OB/GYN appointment as tracked in the 2025 survey is 41.8 days, up 79% since 2004, while the average time to schedule a dermatology appointment is 36.5 days, up 50% since 2004.”
This effect is liable to spill over into rural areas. If wait times have increased in densely populated areas, “with some of the highest ratios of physicians to population in the country,” the report reasoned, “wait times in areas with fewer physicians per capita are likely to be equally long or longer.”
APPs a bright spot in healthcare recruiting
This report, and others, continue to point to advanced practice providers (APPs) such as nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) as a bright spot in healthcare recruiting:
“A shortage of NPs and other APPs is not anticipated. However, NP jobs are projected to grow by 45% over the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and NPs and other APPs are in strong demand.”
Even so, caveats remain:
“Like physicians, APPs can be difficult to recruit in today’s market.”
We’re coming to believe that financial incentives alone aren’t enough to attract providers. Rural healthcare should lean into the flexibility, balance and autonomy that providers say they desire – and rural healthcare is capable of providing.
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