ORANGE, CT — The average wait time for a neurologist specialist visit in the United States is about 50 days for commercially insurance patients, and those with multiple sclerosis wait even longer.
That is according to a new study led by the VA Connecticut Health System in West Haven and Orange, CT; and the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. The researchers examined wait times, and drivers of wait times, for new neurology office visits among patients with insurance.
The retrospective, repeated cross-sectional study used 2019–2023 data from the Merative MarketScan Commercial Database of about 20 million annual U.S. and included enrollees with a new neurology visit, a primary care or emergency department (ED) visit in the prior 365 days and continuous enrollment. Results were published in the journal Neurology.1
Defined as the primary outcome was the wait time in days for a new neurology visit following a primary care or ED visit. The study team reported mean (SD) and median (interquartile range [IQR]) wait times by sex, race, neurologic condition, insurance type, and geographic region. Between 2019 and 2023, 114,034 enrollees with a mean age of 42.1 met the inclusion criteria. Most, 65.6%, were female.
Results indicated that the average wait time for a new neurology visit was 49.7 days (SD = 65.4), and the median wait was 25.0 days (IQR = 9–62). The study found that wait times were shorter for female patients, compared with male patients (−7.0 days; 95% CI −7.8 to −6.2) and for stroke (−8.2 days; 95% CI −9.5 to −6.9), dizziness or vertigo (−7.8 days; 95% CI −10.4 to −5.1) and traumatic brain injury (−6.5 days; 95% CI −8.0 to −5.1). On the other hand, they were longer for multiple sclerosis (+4.0 days; 95% CI 2.0–6.1).
Other findings included that the Northeast Census region had the longest waits (+4.6 days; 95% CI 3.3-6.0). In addition, the study team wrote, “The proportion of non-Hispanic white race within a metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) was associated with reduced wait times (−0.2 days per MSA percent white; 95% CI −0.2 to −0.1). Enrollees with consumer driven health plans had the shortest wait times (−2.4 days; 95% CI −3.6 to −1.2). Neurologist density/100,000 enrollees was not associated with wait time (0.0 days: 95% CI −0.01 to 0.00).”
The authors concluded that wait times for new neurology appointments vary by sex, neurologic condition, insurance type and geographic level variables.
The study was especially important, according to background information in the article, because “timely access to specialty care is a cornerstone of the U.S. health care system, associated with reduced emergency department (ED) use, fewer preventable hospitalizations, and lower mortality.3 This is particularly critical in neurology, where neurologic conditions have become the leading cause of disability globally and present a staggering economic burden in the United States, costing nearly $800 billion annually.”
The authors warned, “As the prevalence of these conditions rises with an aging population and improved survival for those living with chronic neurologic diseases, the demand for neurologic care is rapidly outpacing the supply of specialists available to provide care, making the wait time for a neurology appointment an important metric for assessing healthcare access and quality.”
- Laffargue EK, Van Der Goes DN, Wilson AM, Parziale SD, Sico JJ, Ney J. Neurology Wait Times After Primary Care or Emergency Department Visits Among the Commercially Insured Population in the United States: 2019-2023. Neurology. 2026 May 26;106(10):e218008. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000218008. Epub 2026 Apr 29. PMID: 42054604; PMCID: PMC13239415.