Anonymous wrote:Sometimes you have to do the 7 am. They sleep in sweats or you have them with you and dress them. Brush teeth, shove into car.

+1 I'd stay at their house that night or have them stay at my house, whichever is closer to the appointment.

I have dealt with this with my elderly parents. I have had success using the patient portal to message the doctors. I basically say that I am so-and-so, writing on behalf of my parent, and they are experiencing xyz symptoms. I then note my concern that the symptoms warrant more immediate attention and any delays in treatment will be to the significant detriment of my parent's health.

Language that sounds like documenting their potential malpractice in writing tends to be the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

Do they only auger Medicare or are you only looking for doctors who take insurance? If the doctor gets almost zero reimbursement they might just have a few types of those appointments open. I’ve never waited more than a few months for my dad and i schedule all of his stuff. Just made an urology appt and I thought end of Feb was bad.
When I do want one earlier, I stalk the reschedule option in my chart to pick up a cancellation.

is it due to the fact that you are only looking for in network?
If that is the case - call insurance and ask them to help you find a dr - and if they can't they can authorize you to go out of network

What's the reason for the doctor appt? I end up with an urgent need every 3-5 years, go to the ER and it's takes care of a lot all at once -xrays, scans. And I have excellent insurance.

Sometimes you have to do the 7 am. They sleep in sweats or you have them with you and dress them. Brush teeth, shove into car.

Sometimes if there is a hospital
Visit you can get an earlier appointment. Otherwise you get on waitlists. If getting in earlier is really important maybe the referring doctor can help. But frankly there is a shortage of specialists and so, consequently, there are waitlists.

If this is something that your parent really needs to see a specialist for (ie-not cosmetic) I have found it works better to have the gp office call first and let the specialist know that this patient needs to be seen soon. That has cut wait times down to 3-5 months vs 12 months.

find another doctor.

What type of specialist doesn’t have an appointment for 13 months from now?

Not that far out but might as well be! How are you all dealing with doctors who have no availability for months and months and months? Or wait they have one slot at 7:30am 3 months from now which I can do but my elderly parent cannot be ready by 6:00am to drive 20 miles but takes an hour because of traffic and after that availability starts in late 2Q 2026 or even 3Q for new patients and patients already in their medical system but just have not yet seen by that doctor?
We experienced similar when switching gp's last year but had many other options including their old gp if push came to shove and the wait was worth it, but now that we need a specialist (and judging by lack of availability so do others) we're shocked by the wait time. We're on a couple different waitlists but I fear their health taking a turn. I started off with recommended highly rated docs and moved to some with the fewest legit complaints about them (I've dealt with my share of mean front desk staff or terrible parking or long wait times) and am now on 1 star didn't kill someone and even some of them didn't have openings before Memorial Day. Are you harassing or begging for a cancellation spot? Keeping fingers crossed and praying your parent stays afloat until summer? Threatening to camp out in their lobby?