Nearly two out of every five patients are frustrated with their doctor before their check-up even begins. Why do so many appointments start off on the wrong foot?

Well, the average patient wait time for healthcare organizations across the country is around 20 minutes—and that just won't fly for a large portion of patients that were surveyed.





Practices that fail to address these wait-time frustrations stand to lose up to 48% of their patient base in a year—and that's not counting potential patients who avoid your practice after learning about long wait times through online reviews.

Failure to implement solutions in your waiting room will severely impact your ability to retain, attract, and satisfy patients.

Key findings:

  • More than half of physicians surveyed say patients experience wait times longer than 20 minutes "often," and 61% of physicians have heard negative feedback from their patients regarding wait times.
  • A combined 63% of physicians believe wait times have "no impact" or "minimal impact" on their ability to retain patients; however, 24% of patients say they've changed doctors because of long wait times.
  • Sixty-four percent of physicians say patient arrival times (e.g., patients arriving later than their scheduled appointment time) are usually the biggest reason they run behind schedule.
  • Eighty-three percent of patients say being told in advance what the wait time will be could help to reduce frustration.

To see more of why long wait times are indeed affecting a practice's bottomline, checkout this article.

If you are interested in reducing your long wait times in the waiting room and the exam room, contact Expeditor by filling out our short Contact Us form, and one of our Territory Managers will contact you, or call 800-843-9651.