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Survey Finds Long Waits and Access Friction Push Patients to Switch Doctors, With AI Trusted Mostly for Admin Tasks

A Klara-commissioned poll of 2,000 recent patients is being used to push practice tech intended to cut administrative friction.

Overview

  • Top immediate turn-offs were waiting more than 30 minutes (52%), not reaching a human by phone (48%), and difficulty scheduling (41%).
  • Patients decide within about 20 minutes whether to return to a new doctor, and they expect at least 20 minutes for a first visit.
  • Callers report holding an average of 8.5 minutes, say they would hang up after roughly 10 minutes with a new office, and want the entire first-appointment scheduling process to take about 7.5 minutes.
  • Trust and rapport loom large when switching, with 54% citing this as the hardest part and 41% worried about care quality, while ongoing relationships end most often over low quality (58%), not feeling heard (49%), or feeling rushed (41%).
  • Views on AI are split, with about one-third uncomfortable with any role, some favoring administrative uses such as reminders (37%), refills (29%), and scheduling (23%), and trust ranging from 13% complete trust to 18% limiting AI to admin tasks.