Even with telehealth checkups included, access to health care declined statewide in 2021, according to the latest “Timely Access”Most of the health plans listed showed decreases in the percentage of surveyed doctors who said they had appointments available within the government’s minimum specified time frames — two to four days for urgent matters, 10 business days for non-urgent matters and 15 days for specialty appointments.
Sure, he could get something sooner if he were willing to drive 40 miles south to a Kaiser clinic in San Diego, but seeing a randomly assigned doctor who will not know his medical history, he said, feels futile, especially when the standard office visit is very short, leaving little time to both explain and discuss a complex issue.
Kaiser pointed to its new “Get Care Now” program, which allows its members to “quickly have their symptoms assessed and meet face-to-face through a video or have a phone visit 24/7 across the United States.” But there continue to be signs that the 2022 timely access report, likely to be published in late 2023 or early 2024, will show further declines in appointment times.
“Whether I’m a physician or a PA or a nurse practitioner, I think what the pandemic taught is that we don’t have to stay,” Edwards said. “We’re smart people, and when we finally figure that out, many leave.” More training, though, is not going to break the current logjam. It takes years of classroom and clinical practice to mint a new doctor, nurse or respiratory technician.
Declining access or increased demand?
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