Hospice and Palliative Medicine – PCP to Doctor Consultation

SPECIALTY
Hospice and Palliative Medicine

CHIEF COMPLAINT
Delirium

COMMENTS TO SPECIALIST
A follow-up to an eConsult in November, the patient’s behavior is deteriorating. She is becoming more aggressive and not responding to Haldol. Many medication doses were decreased as per the prior eConsult. I am unable to discontinue Omeprazole due to the recurrence of symptoms

MAIN QUESTION
Do you have further suggestions on how to help her and her family?

Long wait times for healthcare decrease specialist access

What is delaying specialty care for patients? Online PCP to doctor consultation can reduce wait times.

In order to understand the different reasons that patients struggle to access care, it is essential to take a look at what contributing to the issue. There are many reasons that patients do not access specialty care. Social determinants of health (SDOH) like the travel distance required to access specialty care in rural areas, cost, disability, and many more. However, the issue that impacts patients nationwide is the long wait times for healthcare that limit appointments with specialists.

Patients are frequently told that specialists aren’t able to see them for several weeks or even months from the time that the patient receives a referral and attempts to make an appointment. This creates a backlog of patients who often don’t get seen by a specialist because the patient seeks care in another location, like the ED, or decides that the appointment isn’t necessary. So much time between the date the appointment is scheduled and the date of the appointment leads to forgotten and missed appointments and scheduling conflicts.

The average wait time to see a gastroenterologist is 26.1 days. Meanwhile, the average wait time to see a rheumatologist is 44.8 days.