The average wait for a new-patient appointment in the United States is 31 days, according to AMN Healthcare's 2025 survey of 1,391 physician offices across 15 major metro areas. That is up 19.0% from 26 days in 2022 and 48.0% higher than the 21-day average AMN Healthcare recorded back in 2004.
MGMA's July 2026 Stat poll of 197 medical group leaders found this year's trend holding closer to flat than that long-run climb suggests. Asked how new-patient wait times compare with 2025, 46.0% said about the same, 28.0% said longer, and 22.0% said shorter, with 4.0% unsure. A year earlier, MGMA's July 2025 poll found a slightly worse split: 40.0% no change, 31.0% longer, and 26.0% shorter.
Which Specialties Make Patients Wait Longest
Obstetrics and gynecology posted the longest average wait in AMN Healthcare's 2025 survey, at 41.8 days, up 33.0% since 2022 and 79.0% since 2004. Gastroenterology, added to the survey for the first time in 2025, averaged 40.0 days. Dermatology followed at 36.5 days, up 6.0% since 2022, and cardiology at 33.0 days, up 23.0%. Family medicine averaged 23.5 days, up 14.0% since 2009. Orthopedic surgery was the exception: it fell to 12.0 days, down 29.0% since both 2022 and 2004, a specialty where supply has kept pace with demand. That leaves a 3.5-fold gap between the shortest and longest average wait among the six specialties AMN Healthcare tracked in 2025.
The gap between metro areas was wider than the gap between specialties. Boston averaged 65.0 days across all specialties surveyed, the longest of the 15 metro areas AMN Healthcare tracked. Atlanta averaged 12.0 days, the shortest, a 53-day spread between the two cities. At the extremes, dermatology patients in Portland, Oregon waited an average of 291 days for an appointment, obstetrics and gynecology patients in Boston waited 231 days, gastroenterology patients in Detroit waited 208 days, and cardiology patients in Washington, D.C. waited 175 days.
Why the Physician Pool Isn't Keeping Pace
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's March 2026 report to Congress found the number of primary care physicians billing Medicare fell from 138,000 in 2019 to 133,000 in 2024, a decline of roughly 0.7% a year. Over the same stretch, the number of advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants billing Medicare grew from 258,000 to 348,000, a gain of about 6.2% a year. MedPAC also reported that encounters per beneficiary rose 11.8% for APRNs and PAs and 1.7% for primary care physicians over that period. The ratio of APRNs and PAs to primary care physicians billing Medicare grew from about 1.9 to 1 in 2019 to roughly 2.6 to 1 in 2024.
Practices are leaning on that growing APP workforce to hold wait times down. MGMA's polling found 48.0% of medical groups added advanced practice providers relative to physicians over the past year, a staffing shift that helps explain why the 2026 wait-time trend looks flatter than the specialty-level averages alone would predict.
Access Gaps by Insurance and Geography
Coverage type and location still shape how fast a patient gets seen. MedPAC's March 2026 report found 38.0% of Medicare beneficiaries got a first appointment within two weeks of trying to schedule one, compared with 28.0% of privately insured adults ages 50 to 64. Rural beneficiaries got in faster than urban ones: 57.0% within two weeks in rural areas versus 33.0% in urban areas, a 24-point gap.
AMN Healthcare's 2025 survey found 82.0% of the physician offices it contacted accepted new Medicare patients, ranging from 68.0% to 94.0% depending on the metro area. Medicaid acceptance was lower and more variable, at 53.0% overall with a range of 28.0% to 85.0% by metro, a spread of 57 points between the highest- and lowest-acceptance markets.
Where Practices Are Focusing Instead
MGMA's December 2025 poll of 236 medical group leaders asked which patient access issue their practice planned to prioritize in 2026. No-shows led at 27.0%, followed by online scheduling at 24.0%, phone access at 22.0%, and wait times directly at 21.0%, with 5.0% citing something else. The top two priorities combined, no-shows and online scheduling, accounted for 51.0% of responses, more than double the 21.0% who named wait times on their own. Scheduling technology remains underused as a fix: an earlier MGMA Stat poll found 71.0% of medical groups still have fewer than one in four patients booking appointments through digital tools.
Wait Times by Specialty, 2025 vs. Prior Years
| Specialty | 2025 avg. wait (days) | Change since 2022 | Change since 2004/2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obstetrics/gynecology | 41.8 | +33.0% | +79.0% (since 2004) |
| Gastroenterology | 40.0 | New to survey in 2025 | — |
| Dermatology | 36.5 | +6.0% | +50.0% (since 2004) |
| Cardiology | 33.0 | +23.0% | +74.0% (since 2004) |
| Family medicine | 23.5 | +14.0% | +16.0% (since 2009) |
| Orthopedic surgery | 12.0 | -29.0% | -29.0% (since 2004) |
Source: AMN Healthcare, 2025 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times, 1,391 physician offices across 15 major metro areas.
Put together, the two data sets point to a market that stopped getting rapidly worse but has not turned the corner either. MGMA's 197-practice poll found more groups reporting longer new-patient waits in 2026 (28.0%) than shorter ones (22.0%), the second straight year that split has tilted the same direction.
Sources
- MGMA, "New-patient wait times largely hold flat in 2026 as some groups add providers in bid to meet demand," July 14, 2026
- MGMA, "Patient access priorities for 2026: Tackling wait times, phones, no-shows and more," December 9, 2025
- AMN Healthcare, "New Survey Shows Physician Appointment Wait Times Surge: 19% Since 2022, 48% Since 2004," May 27, 2025
- MedPAC, "March 2026 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy," March 2026
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