wait times to get appointment with a specialist? (St. Louis, Springfield: dermatologists, insurance)

[johninvegas]

Hi guys!

I'm researching places to move to and Springfield is one of the areas I'm interested in. I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Springfield and she told me that it takes a year to get an appointment with a specialist.

Now I know it really depends on the specialist, but is this a pretty normal thing? Here in Las Vegas (and we have pretty pathetic health care) it can take upwards of a month to get in to see a popular specialist, but that's abut it.

[yotho]

I'm going to a primary care physician on Tuesday to get referred to a specialist. I'll report back in on whatever they say. It could vary though based on the different specialties, like you said. I'm usually seeking neurologists, ENTs, and ophthalmologists.

Before moving back to Springfield I'd been referred out to St. Louis, and the wait time for that was about a month for neuro, a week for ophthalmologists. ENT surgeons somewhere in between.

I'm curious how well Springfield is for rarer disorders. Have any Springfieldians had to be referred to St. Louis?

[Arrby]

My only recent experience was the need to see a vascular surgeon. It took about two weeks. I do know of a situation requiring a maxillary surgeon and that required about three or four weeks to be scheduled.

The local paper reports a serious shortage of dermatologists. Apparently the wait time for referrals through the normal channels for anything short of melanoma ranges from months to never. Reports say they can make rather a lot more money in private practice working on a cash basis and not have to bother with all the overhead of insurance claims, medicare, etc.

[yotho]

Okay, so I have about a month wait to get into an ENT. My doctor said it would take several months to get into a neurologist.