Dr. Katherine Atkinson, who practices in Amherst, said overhead is killing doctors.
SPRINGFIELD – Move into town with a family, call a pediatrician and it’ll take an average of 21 days to get in and see the doctor, according to a study released on Monday by the Massachusetts Medical Society.
Twenty-one days is relatively short, the composite average for specialists considered “primary care” doctors – cardiology, internal medicine, gastroenterology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedic surgery, family medicine and pediatrics – is 36 days. But in 21 days a run-of-the mill childhood hernia can turn into a life-threatening obstructed bowel, said Dr. Kevin P. Moriarty, president of the Hampden District Medical Society, part of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
Even the relatively short 13-day wait time for new patients to see a pediatrician in Hampshire County is more than enough time for an infected appendix — which often masquerades as a bellyache — to burst, Moriarty, division chief of pediatric surgery at Baystate Children’s Hospital, said last week in a telephone interview.
“A child with a ruptured appendix may be in the hospital for five days,” Moriarty said. “It’s not good.”
The Massachusetts Medical Society is releasing it’s “Patent Access To Health Care Study” on Monday, the same day doctors plan to lobby state lawmakers in Boston. Doctors say relatively low pay, high overhead and insurance costs and high student loans make it uneconomical to practice family medicine in Massachusetts. That’s driving wait times and making it harder for people to get the health care they need despite the high percentage of Massachusetts residents who have insurance, according to the study.
Statewide, the overall average wait for a first-time appointment was 35 days in 2010.
The longest wait time in Hampden County was 56 days for a gastroenterologist. But in Franklin county, the wait for a gastroenterologist was 174 days, the longest wait time for any specialist anywhere in the state. The longest wait time in Hampshire County was 60 days for an obstetrician/gynecologist.
Average wait times across specialties was 36 days in Hampden County, 33 days in Hampshire County and 53 days in Franklin County.
“That delays patients getting regular screens like mammograms,” Moriarty said. “This situation also drives people to seek treatment in emergency rooms. That’s not good care.”
Just 75 percent of the doctors in Hampden County are accepting new patients, according to the survey. In Hampshire County, 74 percent of the doctors surveyed are accepting new patients. In Franklin County, just 65 percent are accepting new patients.
That also varies by patient; just 43 percent of the family doctors in Hampshire County are accepting new patients.
Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson , whose patients call her “Dr. Kate” around her Amherst practice, said overhead is killing doctors. Her practice has three health-care providers and a support staff of 15.
“No one is sitting around,” she said. “We are very busy doing paperwork and jumping through hoops to advocate for patients.”
She also said insurance rates are based on actions, something medical reformers are talking about changing.
“If I spend an hour talking to someone who has just had a heart attack or a stroke, I might make $80 for that,” she said.
Massachusetts Medical Society 2011 Physician Practice Environment Report
But another doctor might get $2,500 for doing a 20-minute procedure.
“People are willing to pay me for what I can do, not for what I know,” she said.
Insurance rates are also high in Massachusetts. Other states have passed tort reform.
“Just cut some of the red tape and let me do my job,” she said.
Moriarty said more nurse practitioners and physicians assistants would help. That way doctors would be freed up because other professionals could see younger, healthier patients. He’d also like to see more slots open up in medic al schools and loan forgiveness for doctors who chose to be primary-care doctors.
