Are these doctors just seeing patients all day, every day? If not, I can’t imagine how they could possibly justify making someone wait 10 months for a virtual visit.
Honestly? A lot of them are. They also might have a few hours during the day where they review lab results or imaging for their various patients.
A lot of the specialists don’t work for a hospital or anything, so they’re basically a doctor and also a small business owner in a business with a very long ramp up time and uncertain demand on the timeframe that you can make the decision to work in the field. So you end up with “how many people do you think will have arthritis in five years, and how many people do you think will have decided to become rheumatologists by then?” And if you’re wrong you’re still a rheumatologist and you basically just need to move someplace that needs one and hope you can run a business.
You might luck out if you’re near a big medical facility that’s involved in teaching, because then you might end up with several doing teaching and research.
E.g. in the UK, someone I know had to wait 18 months for an (online) assessment for ADHD. I was along as a character reference, since I have ADHD myself, so could point out the bits they forgot (due to ADHD).
At the end, they apologised again for the delay. Apparently, since COVID, they have been receiving almost as many referrals in a week than they used to in a year. It takes a long time to train new doctors, particularly in specialist positions. They were swamped.
Many specialists are in the same boat, even before insurance companies get involved.
Are these doctors just seeing patients all day, every day? If not, I can’t imagine how they could possibly justify making someone wait 10 months for a virtual visit.
Honestly? A lot of them are. They also might have a few hours during the day where they review lab results or imaging for their various patients.
A lot of the specialists don’t work for a hospital or anything, so they’re basically a doctor and also a small business owner in a business with a very long ramp up time and uncertain demand on the timeframe that you can make the decision to work in the field. So you end up with “how many people do you think will have arthritis in five years, and how many people do you think will have decided to become rheumatologists by then?” And if you’re wrong you’re still a rheumatologist and you basically just need to move someplace that needs one and hope you can run a business.
You might luck out if you’re near a big medical facility that’s involved in teaching, because then you might end up with several doing teaching and research.
It can easily happen anywhere.
E.g. in the UK, someone I know had to wait 18 months for an (online) assessment for ADHD. I was along as a character reference, since I have ADHD myself, so could point out the bits they forgot (due to ADHD).
At the end, they apologised again for the delay. Apparently, since COVID, they have been receiving almost as many referrals in a week than they used to in a year. It takes a long time to train new doctors, particularly in specialist positions. They were swamped.
Many specialists are in the same boat, even before insurance companies get involved.