What’s with all the insanely long waitlists in the DMV

[Anonymous]

Nearly every special needs related service in the DMV I’ve pursued has resulted in LONG waitlists. This includes therapies (PT, OT, ST) neuropsych evals, developmental peds, etc. is this a nationwide issue for more prevalent in this area? We seriously need more professionals providing care for children and adults with disabilities. It’s disconcerting especially with diagnosis rates increasing. Interesting in others thoughts who have navigated this

[Anonymous]

It's nationwide

[Anonymous]

Yes. It’s horrifying.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, it’s only an issue if you are using insurance. If you are full pay, you can get any of these services in a “reasonable” amount of time. It’s not fair but that is how the system works. I called a week ago to schedule a neuropsych and have an appointment for my daughter the first week of January.

[Anonymous]

Being an SLP myself, I can tell you it is similar to what the teacher are facing. Low pay, low reimbursements and burn outs. People are starting to leave the therapy settings in droves, especially the younger therapists. The cost of getting a degree in these areas is upwards of 100,000 and the pay is not comparable. They are overworked and caseloads are high.
Reddit is filled with posts like these:
https://www.reddit.com/r/slp/comments/12fpkir/slp_low_wages/

[Anonymous]

I got into a neuropsych within six weeks or so that's full pay ($4800 if memory serves)

But talk therapy -- whew! Even practices that DON'T take insurance -- which is most of them -- were full or thought my kid was too difficult to see with the newbie who had slots. I finally found someone, but it's costing almost $10,000 a year between deductible, co-insurance and the fact that the insurer says very experienced therapist should only charge $109 a session and she charges $200.

A friend of mine had their ABA therapist quit on the first day because they found the commute to onerous

And don't even get me started on the difficulty of finding dyslexia-savvy tutors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, it’s only an issue if you are using insurance. If you are full pay, you can get any of these services in a “reasonable” amount of time. It’s not fair but that is how the system works. I called a week ago to schedule a neuropsych and have an appointment for my daughter the first week of January.

This. Full pay patients can get a neuropsych in reasonable time, but social skills groups and therapies are often still very overbooked.

[Anonymous]

There's more demand since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic you would wait for a "good" time slot but nothing like how it is now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, it’s only an issue if you are using insurance. If you are full pay, you can get any of these services in a “reasonable” amount of time. It’s not fair but that is how the system works. I called a week ago to schedule a neuropsych and have an appointment for my daughter the first week of January.

This. Full pay patients can get a neuropsych in reasonable time, but social skills groups and therapies are often still very overbooked.

That’s true- you can get faster testing with $$$ but since I am yet to find a child therapist who takes insurance that doesn’t help speed things up at all in my opinion. Treating pediatric psychiatrists are also so so so backed up- I called every name on the list of recommendations including plenty that were private pay and it still was 6 months to a new patient appointment. My child is pretty young though; I think it’s a bit better if you have a tween/teen

[Anonymous]

I think paying out of pocket helps for neuropsych testing however I have not found this true for therapies. I think many parents in this area pay out of pocket and it does not affect wait list times. It’s absurd that most insurances cover PT OT ST up to a certain number of visits but we can’t even use this coverage bc we can’t get in. Sorry for the rant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's nationwide

Not really. We are no longer in the DC area and we were able to get into psycho educational testing in 2 weeks. We didn't need neuropsych testing this time but we could have gotten in for that as well.

We weren't using insurance which I know cuts down on the wait times but we haven't found the wait times we used to have in NOVA. We're in a major metropolitan area.

[Anonymous]

We live in Rockville. DSs social skills group is by BWI. The group is 1.5hrs and he loves it so that takes some of the sting out of it. But basically it is an all evening activity.

[Anonymous]

The pandemic led to extraordinary need to mental health and social services of all kinds.

[Anonymous]

It’s not just kids or people needing psychologists who are waiting. Below are some waits that I or people in my family and social network have experienced:
-Three weeks to see a Kaiser primary care doctor for a follow-up only the have the doc cancel two days before and not be able to reschedule for another three weeks out.
-An in-office treatment that a patient used to receive every 4-6 weeks is now available every eight weeks and requires two phone calls and “squeezing in” to arrange.
-Twelve-week wait times for cardiac MRIs and cardiac PET/CT scans at Washington Hospital Center
-Four-month waits to see a rheumatologist as a new patient
-Three-month waits to see an endocrinologist as a new patient
-MedStar mental health practitioners aren’t accepting new patients, so MedStar referring physicians are telling patients to consult the Psychology Today directory.
-A 240 day wait for a neuropsychological exam to assess post-Covid cognitive challenges

It’s exhausting to try to seek medical care since the pandemic began.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just kids or people needing psychologists who are waiting. Below are some waits that I or people in my family and social network have experienced:
-Three weeks to see a Kaiser primary care doctor for a follow-up only the have the doc cancel two days before and not be able to reschedule for another three weeks out.
-An in-office treatment that a patient used to receive every 4-6 weeks is now available every eight weeks and requires two phone calls and “squeezing in” to arrange.
-Twelve-week wait times for cardiac MRIs and cardiac PET/CT scans at Washington Hospital Center
-Four-month waits to see a rheumatologist as a new patient
-Three-month waits to see an endocrinologist as a new patient
-MedStar mental health practitioners aren’t accepting new patients, so MedStar referring physicians are telling patients to consult the Psychology Today directory.
-A 240 day wait for a neuropsychological exam to assess post-Covid cognitive challenges

It’s exhausting to try to seek medical care since the pandemic began.

I wait months for doctors appointments and medical testing for multiple specialists. Its pretty. If I need care within a week, my primary care tells me to go to urgent care or the ER.