The average wait time for the third next available appointment across 11 medical specialties in 23 U.S. metro areas is 38 days, starkly contrasting with the traditional 14-day benchmark. The finding comes from ECG Management Consultants, which investigated patient wait times due to their difficulty in measurement and tracking.

在美国23个大都市地区的11个医学专业中，第三次可用预约的平均等待时间为38天，与传统的14天基准形成鲜明对比。这一发现来自ECG管理顾问，该顾问调查了患者因测量和跟踪困难而等待的时间。

While many people have anecdotal evidence that accessing medical care is becoming increasingly slow and time-consuming, the report, 'The Waiting Game: New-Patient Appointment Access for US Physicians,' provides concrete data and reveals sobering average wait times across the nation.The metrics are not intended as new benchmarks but rather provide a realistic snapshot of what patients experience when seeking medical appointments.

虽然许多人都有轶事证据表明，获得医疗保健的速度越来越慢，也越来越耗时，但这份报告《等待游戏：美国医生获得新的病人预约》提供了具体数据，并揭示了全国各地令人清醒的平均等待时间。这些指标并不是作为新的基准，而是提供了患者在寻求医疗预约时经历的真实快照。

Of the 253 metropolitan market and specialty combinations included in this research, only 6% had an average wait time of 14 days or less, which has long been the industry rule of thumb.ECG developed a methodology for the report where secret shoppers contacted 145 to 168 medical practices in each metro area to request wait times for the third next available non-urgent appointment.

在这项研究中包括的253个大都市市场和专业组合中，只有6%的平均等待时间为14天或更短，这一直是行业的经验法则。ECG为该报告开发了一种方法，秘密购物者联系了每个地铁地区的145至168家医疗机构，要求等待下一次非紧急预约的时间。

This metric is commonly used to gauge patient access, since the number of days to the first or second available appointment may be artificially short due to a late cancellation or anomalous event.The situations presented by the commercially insured secret shoppers involved conditions or needs that typically do not require a physician referral.

该指标通常用于衡量患者的访问情况，因为由于延迟取消或异常事件，第一次或第二次可用预约的天数可能会人为缩短。商业保险的秘密购物者所呈现的情况涉及通常不需要医生转诊的条件或需求。

These scenarios included appointments to establish care with primary care physicians, a stomach ulcer for a gastroenterologist appointment, a full-body skin check for dermatology, and femoral hernia irritation for general surgery. Jennifer Moody, partner with ECG, was particularly surprised by the portion of.

这些情况包括与初级保健医生预约建立护理，胃肠病专家预约胃溃疡，皮肤病学全身皮肤检查以及普通外科的股疝刺激。ECG的合伙人詹妮弗·穆迪（JenniferMoody）对这一部分感到特别惊讶。