Physician shortages widespread in state, report says

Half of primary care practices in Massachusetts are closed to new patients and wait times for appointments continue to be long, according to a new survey released today by a statewide physicians' association.

The Massachusetts Medical Society, which has been polling doctors, hospital executives, and medical educators for nine years, reports that primary care doctors are in short supply for the fifth year in a row, citing pressure from the state’s 2006 law mandating near-universal insurance coverage. Other doctors are not immune. All told, 10 of 18 specialties also have shortages and all of the state’s community hospitals say they are having a hard time filing vacancies.

“The findings from this latest analysis clearly show how fragile access to care for patients is across the entire Commonwealth,” society president Dr. Alice Coombs said in a statement released with the report.

When primary care patients do secure an appointment for a non-urgent matter, they have to wait to get in the door, the survey found. The average delay is 29 days to see a family medicine doctor, down from 44 days last year, and 53 days to see an internist, up from 44 days last year.

The report said shortages also exist in dermatology, emergency medicine, general surgery, neurology, orthopedics, psychiatry, urology, and vascular surgery.