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Report: Waits for Dermatology Appointments Take Toll on Patients
A new report from the Greater Access for Patients Partnership (GAPP) finds that long waits for dermatology appointments have negative emotional, physical and financial impacts on patients and caregivers. GAPP is a recently formed coalition of leading professional and patient organizations, including SDPA, that aims to improve the dermatology wait times crisis and increase access to care.
The report, entitled Patients Are Waiting: America’s Dermatology Wait Times Crisis, finds lengthy delays for both new and returning dermatology patients have become the norm, averaging more than a month. Many patients wait much longer. According to the report, 58% of patients worried that their skin condition would worsen while waiting, and half of the patients surveyed experienced anxiety while waiting for care.
The report also identifies solutions that have been shown to shorten dermatology wait times, including increased use of physician assistants and nurse practitioners, better development of diagnostic confidence in primary care physicians, and greater use of telemedicine.
Now is the time to begin implementing strategic changes to improve access to care for all patients. SDPA encourages members to read the report and to share our posts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn .
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