More than 40% of patients have experienced a “longer than reasonable” wait for healthcare, with 26% of those patients waiting more than two months for healthcare, according to a new national survey of U.S. adults released by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
As a result, nearly half of those who experienced unreasonable wait times gave up seeking an appointment and did not receive care. This includes patients seeking critical mental health services, according to the survey conducted in April 2023.
“These results are an eye-opening look at the state of access to care in our healthcare system,” says AANP President Stephen Ferrara, DNP. “A lack of timely access to care, particularly primary and preventive care, can lead to chronic conditions that put patients’ lives in danger and increase costs. Delayed or deferred care can put an individual’s health at greater risk for complications, which may also lead to a negative impact on mental health and lost wages for those patients. A decline in productivity for employers may also occur.”
Among those surveyed, 26% reported waiting more than two months to gain access to a healthcare provider. This situation extends across all major demographics, including age, gender, and education, and it impacts access to care in all geographic areas, including rural, suburban, and urban settings. Those most likely to give up on seeing a provider after a lengthy wait include younger adults, people living in urban areas, and respondents who reported their ethnicity as Hispanic.
“As a nation, we can solve the growing crisis in access to care by modernizing the outdated policies that sideline NPs from delivering care they are educated and clinically prepared to provide,” says AANP Chief Executive Officer Jon Fanning MS, CAE, CNED. “We can help shorten wait times and give patients timely access to the care they need by removing barriers to America’s 355,000 NPs.”
AANP supports modernizing policies to ensure people across the nation have full and direct access to the high-quality healthcare NPs provide. Giving patients the freedom to choose their healthcare provider is the first step in ensuring that, as a nation, we improve access to care and increase positive health outcomes for all.
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