I’d like to share a concern that I’m sure many others have experienced.
Without mentioning names, why is it considered acceptable for patients to wait 45 minutes to an hour (or longer) in a doctor’s office past their scheduled appointment time, yet if a patient arrives even five or ten minutes late, they’re often met with disapproval—or even told they’ll have to reschedule?
Let’s be clear: I understand that delays happen. Emergencies arise, patients take longer than expected, and the medical field is complex. But as a paying customer, my time also has value. When I make an effort to show up on time for my appointment and end up sitting in a waiting room for an hour, it’s frustrating. When that’s followed by being chastised for arriving a few minutes late on another occasion, it feels deeply one-sided and unfair. I also have business to conduct and have places to be.
Mutual respect should go both ways. If practices expect patients to respect their time, then the courtesy should be returned. No one is asking for perfection—just fairness, communication, and a little understanding.
We all appreciate the hard work of doctors and their staff. But part of providing quality care includes respecting patients not just medically—but personally and professionally as well.
A frustrated mother.
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100% and the (moderated) in lakewood is very guilty of this, with absolutely no recourse
We became very close to a Dr in town, one of the first to sign up at their new practice. We felt we finally found someone who’s available, accessible etc…..After 6 months we noticed the waits got longer and longer and when I brought it up with him I was told straight to my face “find another practice if you have a problem”. I was kind of shocked. We indeed found a new practice after it became unbearable. They simply book as many patients as possible with no regard for time.
hate to say this but this is just a byproduct of most people being on government/cheap insurance. the only way doctors can make enough is by seeing a lot of patients if not its not sustainable for them…
Sadly, you’re 100% right. I see a cardiologist in NYC, private pay only, and I never wait more than 3 minutes.
Yes!!!! Annoys me so much. And its not just one time, i would say 70% of the time I’m called in minimum 15 minutes past my appointment time and when they’re actually on time I’m shocked that they’re calling my name. Ive waited upwards of 1.5 hours on a bad day
I went to a medical office the doctor showed up 20 minutes late. Twice. Not attending another patient. Dropping her kids at playgroup. If I come late I get a fee. I gave them a piece of my mind and eventually got $20 off my million dollar bill. Whoopee!
There is just a simple supply demand issue in this town. Same thing with schools and many other things. It is what it is. Personally I found doctors outside of Lakewood that are very good and wait times are much less.
Most of the local doctors would much rather not make you wait, but they are left with no choice they have to deal with multiple emergency calls coming in.
I had a doctors appointment today, waited 35 minutes for doctor finally when I was called into the back had to wait another 10 minutes. It’s unacceptable.
It’s one of the mysteries I can’t figure out. Sit and wait usually 45 minutes at least after my appointment time at my own doctor appointments and including the pediatricians office. Than the doctor comes in and spends max 5 minutes maybe sometimes 8 minutes for a more serious issue if even . How backed up could they be. What’s going wrong in the scheduling. Whose at fault
These practices are designed to work that way. They see approx the same amount of people every day, they should figure out how to schedule. At my pediatricians office, there are certain doctors that consistantly show up late every morning. I’ve been to other popular doctors where I never wait more than a few minutes. Its possible if the office is run properly and the practice cares about being mentchlich.
It’s because Medicaid pays very little and the offices need to 2x 3x book to make a living.
That being said, I agree wholeheartedly with the letter writer. I hate being treated that way. And it isn’t fair to the customers. When I say isn’t fair I mean it isn’t Menschlich to treat people that way.
thats the reason perfect health in brooklyn is a primary care office without appointments its walk in and the wait time in max 25 minutes…
If they wouldn’t charge a late fee, the wait would be much longer. It’s better to accept life as it is than trying to change other people’s behavior.
I have a suggestion – and you can take it or leave it- try going to one of the doctors at Chemed. I’ve gone to Chemed quite a number of times, seeing various doctors and in all truth the doctors there are just phenomenal. They are nice, patient, understanding and above all, very knowledgeable, additionally the wait time is very minimal…try it out you’ll be happy you did! And tell them cool m. sent you…
Yes but then you don’t have one doctor who knows you and your medical history. Which is why I don’t use (moderated)
Not sure why Lakewood Moderated which doctor I mentioned, when I was clearly referring to the one in the claim in the comment I was responding to.
My children use Dr. Haim Cohen from Eyes on the 9 as our eye doctor As soon as I arrived, I got called in and Dr. Cohen walked in right away. I was so surprised and said to him “wow so fast”. He told me that his doctor taught him that a patient’s time is just as important as doctor’s time.
I’m in the Medical field, but I have to go get medical care also. I have to wait also.
E/o likes to complain!
Did you every complain when you went to a fancy restaurant and waited to get in and then waited for s/o to take your order & then waited again for the cook to make it and then you get it?
Most people in the US don’t pay for the visit directly.
The reason that Some people Complain because you think that you are entitled to this service.
Your are Not!
You go to the restaurant, but you don’t complain.
Why Not?
You should! After all you are throwing out a lot of money.
The people that work in medical areas are’t making the money that some owners of food places are!
A patient is 100% entitled to a timely appointment. However, because the standard here is so garbage the ppl in the medical are the ones who feel entitled. Entitled to treat other peoples time as worthless…
It should not be too hard for a practice to figure out how many patients a dr sees on a average day and how long a appt slot shuold be…
It stems from a lack of any caring to fix it.
As a physician myself, I can assure you, we hate keeping people waiting. But the average follow up gets reimbursed $50 from insurance. Let’s say that’s for a 7 minute visit. A 7 minute doctor’s visit takes 14 minutes of doctor time (counting charting, call backs, etc), and 30 minutes of staff time.
That $50 doesn’t go very far. A Pediatrician cannot make enough money to pay yeshiva tuition on just 40 hours a week, they have to work 55 hours to get by. Think how much you’d pay for similar service from a lawyer, at least $150.
So you either charge more in cash (fee for service), spend 1/2 the time with patients, or keep them waiting. It’s more a matter of math than if respect.
Keeping someone waiting for no reason other than for you to gain money and to spend the other person’s time is not a valid reason.
So for money you are willing to sacrifice respect of your patients! Shameful!
That’s why i stopped going to children’s doctors except well visits and even then its agony.
Most recently my child was coming just for shots a week after ear infection and wife was debating if should sched appointment first with the dr to recheck although they seemed fine and then do shots. I said absolutely not. If we do that, it can take a half hour until the dr comes in and then once they leave and tell the shot nurse to come in, she can take a full half hour to come in after that. I know it sounds extreme but it is oh so common to treat from a time angle as if its two visits.
Of course some offices are more notorious for this,usually the ones that make a bigger fuss about you doing anything wrong or stepping outside the room after being locked in a closed room for a half hour.
Drs want our business but if they cant take any responsibility with streamlining their system just a tad more, people will more and more avoid them.
the worst of all is the unnecessary paperwork. ie one office recently made me fill out a 8 page paperwork redo, after ive been with that office for many many years and they have all my info.
We got to cut them some slack but if they dont cut us any, we will not show up anymore
At my doctor’s office, the same person who meets and greets patients is also the same person to take messages, makes well visits for a family of six, schedule sick appointments and confirm tomorrow’s appointments. There should be a person dedicated to one task at the front desk. Otherwise the wait time on the phone is very long.
Is Dr (moderated) practice still a long wait? Definitely a factory, get seen for 2 minutes but a long wait
As one who read the comments here, I can assure you that I have waited 0 minutes at some offices, and 90 minutes at others, the real question is the reciprocal treatment that we the patients get in return.
When the doctor will be coming late the patient should be informed as soon as the dr/office knows this and give approximate wait time and keep updating, and a patient who will be late should call in to say they are coming late and give an approximate time.
Now charging a fee can be reciprocal as well, if the doctor or patient show up 15 minutes late than they need to pay 5 or 10 dollars to the other party, or don’t charge at all and just treat the other party with respect.
Though both sides should do their best to be on time, it is incumbent on the server in this case the doctors office to adjust their scheduling to be more accurate with their actual arrival times, which has nothing to do with compensation.
Thank you
Let me provide you with the perspective from the viewpoint of a local health care provider that works with a lot of kids.
You walk in 5 minutes early, fill out a form (another 2 minutes) and get called in 3 minutes later. As the office staff completes the medical work up with your child I am finishing up with my previous patient and should be in your room right on time to see you. We actually schedule our appointments precisely this way to allow me to walk out of one treatment room and proceed immediately into the next one and begin.
However, it all changes if you walk in ten minutes late, take another few minutes to fill out paperwork and you now start arguing/negotiating with your uncooperative child just to allow the assistant to start the office visit. Now, I’m I running 15 behind schedule and need to take another minute just to attempt to be calm your child down. Considering your entire appointment is for 30 minutes, we already used more than half of the time – even prior to evaluating and treating the problem. Compound this multiple times a day there is no chance of me running on time.
So yes, we need you to run on time even if we are running late to allow us to retain some semblance of a normal schedule. We’re not sitting in the break room relaxing when we know you’re waiting. Trust me, it’s stressful and frustrating for us as much is it is for you. We need your help and appreciate your understanding when we run late because there is a lot that that goes on in a medical/dental/mental health etc. office beneath the surface that the average layperson does even begin to see.
The Dentist I go to, has his scheduling down pat. He already accounts for some patients showing up a few minutes late, while others kids’ don’t cooperate. The Dentist I used previously always had me waiting 45 Minutes prior to being called into the room.
If you are running a health practice long enough you should be able to get an average time it would take to account for these thing. In reality, like everyone above stated, there’s no consequence for the Drs. so why should they change….
I see the amount they are billing insurance, and that is absolutely no response for the wait times.
If there’s not enough time- don’t book so many patients! If you know you see each patient for 5 minutes- then don’t book 20 patients for the same half hour!!!
It is plain and simple stealing!
Don’t tell me my appointment is at 2 if you know you have another appointment booked at 1:58!
And don’t tell me your not getting paid enough. Switch jobs if that’s the case!
That doesn’t give you the right to steal my time!
If I don’t make enough money with a hall I rent out, that gives me the right to double book 2 simchos for the same night??
You are stealing peoples time if you overbook appointments knowing there is no way to see everyone on time!
If your running late by mistake and you made appointments responsibly then that is a different story.
1- Since most of the town is on Medicaid (I know not everyone) you get what you pay for.
2- It’s not just about the money, with Lakewood the size that it is if a doctor wants to be able to fit in everyone that needs to be seen.. they are gonna have to overbook hoping that eventually they’ll be able to catch up.
Usually the same people that complain about having to wait a long time are also the ones who want the doctor to give them as much time as they need. You can’t have it both ways!!
Who made up that statistic? I don’t keep the doctor longer than necessary, and yet I find the wait times intolerable.
I try my best to be as quick as possible and see all my patients on time. However many times there are complicated cases, emergencies, uncooperative or for any other reason take longer. You don’t want me spending 2 minutes and misdiagnose your child or not addressing the issues. Sometimes it’s out of my control like logistic reasons such as nursing staffing, not enough rooms etc. I try my best and don’t even have a break to daven, use the bathroom or take a drink.
I don’t own the practice but they work us to or over our limits, the more patients they see the better they’re profitably. I don’t know the actual business aspect but I’m told a certain number of patients need to be seen for it to be profitable. I know I try my best but difficult to always be on time when the volume is high, unless everything runs perfectly like a clock and every issue is straightforward which doesn’t happen in the real world.
But just know when your complaining just because you have to wait 10-15 minutes just makes our job harder and isn’t fair to us, as I end up getting flack for it, even though I’m trying my best without even stopping since the morning.
If it was just 10 – 15 minutes we wouldn’t be complaining. It is often more than 45 minutes.