Endocrinologist shortage?

[qbkilla]

Has anyone heard of a shortage of endocrinologist? I called Mine to make an appointment, they said they could get me in tomorrow due to a cancellation. I said it'd be hard to get off work they said the other option is June when they have appointments. I asked why the lady said they serve the whole county and a bunch recently retired. Is this anyonelse experience? The only way I know to find a different one is google. I'm guessing most insurance companies will let you switch to another one for a second opinion or if yours can't see you for 4 months?

 

[muscle96ss]

Has anyone heard of a shortage of endocrinologist? I called Mine to make an appointment, they said they could get me in tomorrow due to a cancellation. I said it'd be hard to get off work they said the other option is June when they have appointments. I asked why the lady said they serve the whole county and a bunch recently retired. Is this anyonelse experience? The only way I know to find a different one is google. I'm guessing most insurance companies will let you switch to another one for a second opinion or if yours can't see you for 4 months?

There is a shortage of docs in all specialty fields; at least out here in AZ. Any good doc is scheduling months out. Sometimes they have a cancellation list you can get on or have multiple locations where they may have an opening sooner in a location a little further away. Also, usually they have a nurse practitioner or PA that you can get in with sooner; but I don't trust their expertise.

 

[buck]

There is a shortage of all medical people. From barely skilled to Dr's. Between the pandemic taking it's toll on them and the general population getting older the wait time is going up for appointments. And from my experience attitudes and sometimes quality are going down. Can't get rid of what you can't replace.

 

[Ranchhand]

The only endocrinologist in my area retired a couple of years ago, you have to drive an hour an half to 2 hours to visit any around me, within the state.

 

[Prowrestler]

There is a shortage of all medical people. From barely skilled to Dr's. Between the pandemic taking it's toll on them and the general population getting older the wait time is going up for appointments. And from my experience attitudes and sometimes quality are going down. Can't get rid of what you can't replace.

I agree. I work in healthcare. From personal caregivers, nurses and doctors there is a shortage. Covid sure did a number. The hiring pool just isn’t there

 

[TrippplePPP]

Working in health care you see this from time to time. In my area dermatologists and rheumatologist take a long time to get in. Like several months. I'll take notice when local hospitals get purchased by another hospital and all of a sudden their is an influx of same specialties and the doctors are fight ing for patients and on the contrary like you said few doctors retire or have health problems themselves and then there is a shortage.

I would call in sick tomorrow to work and go for the appointment if it were something somewhat urgent to take care of.

 

[qbkilla]

Crazy, in the past I've never had to wait long to see a specialist. I'm guessing an endocrinologist is the only doctor that can diagnose and prescribe thyroid?

 

[TrippplePPP]

Crazy, in the past I've never had to wait long to see a specialist. I'm guessing an endocrinologist is the only doctor that can diagnose and prescribe thyroid?

Do you live near a city? Larger populations can support specialists while more rural areas cannot.

Well, a Primary care doctor could do this and could be useful in a pinch. But they are not specialists meaning they did not go to school specifically for this, obviously. A rheumatologist could do the same. They usually spend more time reading blood work, hearing symptoms and putting two and two together very similar to an endocrinologist. I would say a rheumatologist has more cross-over to an endocrinologist and would be the better choice.

 

[bananas007]

Crazy, in the past I've never had to wait long to see a specialist. I'm guessing an endocrinologist is the only doctor that can diagnose and prescribe thyroid?

I will save you some time. The chances of any board certified endocrinologist prescribing you thyroid medication based on the labs you posted are very low.

If you have your mind made up you want to be on thyroid med, which I don’t think u need, you are better off going to a functional med or hrt clinic type of practice.

 

[bg65]

Crazy, in the past I've never had to wait long to see a specialist. I'm guessing an endocrinologist is the only doctor that can diagnose and prescribe thyroid?

Replacing thyroid is generally straight forward. An internal medicine doc should have no problem doing that, if they do get a different doctor. Unfortunately, some docs (FP and IM) run their clinics like a triage unit sending people to specialists for every little thing. Its like they don't practice medicine they just make referrals.
The shortage problem is that a lot of the various medicine specialties dont pay so well from my understanding. Rheumatology is probably the rarest these days. A good rheumatologist is pretty bad ass though.

 

[qbkilla]

I will save you some time. The chances of any board certified endocrinologist prescribing you thyroid medication based on the labs you posted are very low.

If you have your mind made up you want to be on thyroid med, which I don’t think u need, you are better off going to a functional med or hrt clinic type of practice.

Thank you for the information. So you think my levels would have to be more out of range to need it? Maybe look at diet, iodine, or get a private t3 free test?

 

[bananas007]

Thank you for the information. So you think my levels would have to be more out of range to need it? Maybe look at diet, iodine, or get a private t3 free test?

The most the endocrinologist will do is repeat the labs , tsh, free t4 and free t3 .

I am willing to bet they will all be in range. And then he will say you don’t need it . You are discharged.


There is a lot of functional medicine bullcrap online about thyroid hormones. If they are in range let them be. Don’t go chasing something that doesn’t exist.

 

[buck]

I agree. I work in healthcare. From personal caregivers, nurses and doctors there is a shortage. Covid sure did a number. The hiring pool just isn’t there

Everyone wants to work from home these days.

 

[strongsafety41]

Has anyone heard of a shortage of endocrinologist? I called Mine to make an appointment, they said they could get me in tomorrow due to a cancellation. I said it'd be hard to get off work they said the other option is June when they have appointments. I asked why the lady said they serve the whole county and a bunch recently retired. Is this anyonelse experience? The only way I know to find a different one is google. I'm guessing most insurance companies will let you switch to another one for a second opinion or if yours can't see you for 4 months?

Did you take the appt? In my neck of the woods endos appts are May/June time frame. That’s for new patients, for existing patients the Schedular said they can work you in the same week.

 

[Muay Thai]

There is a shortage of docs in all specialty fields; at least out here in AZ. Any good doc is scheduling months out. Sometimes they have a cancellation list you can get on or have multiple locations where they may have an opening sooner in a location a little further away. Also, usually they have a nurse practitioner or PA that you can get in with sooner; but I don't trust their expertise.

emp[hasis on this, its important we as patients exercise our selectivity with these imbeciles, doctors I normally school ALSO with exception to some specialists, Out of all the people I have coached 1000s since 15 years I have stacks of medical conditions IVe reversed gout type 2 diabetis high bp relinquishing cholesterol meds, tons of skin conditions and GI disorders, Kidney stones and gall stones, UTIS and other bacterial infectinos, god seriously tons and I DONT THINK I AM SPECIAL I AM JUST WELL VERSED and dedicated and I am passionate unlike the majoirty of doctors

 

[slesh]

Bro forget specialists - in South Florida there are no more normal internists! All these fucking sheisters are switching to the “VIP doc” bullshit. Basically cutting down their patient roster making you pay 5k a year just to have access to them and no longer accept insurance. This shit makes me sick. “Do no harm” my fucking dick. My parents are wealthy but my dad won’t do it out of principle. They are having a hard time figuring out what to do. They have a few close friends who are specialists and will order their cholesterol meds and what not. But I feel for the average joe who has no other options…

 

[bg65]

There's a bit of that popping up in the west coast too. Some people actually really like it, supposedly like a return to "how it used to be" with your doc making home visits and seeing you in the hospital instead of just having the hospital docs do it, i think most of them are available by phone basically around the clock for their patients too.
From the primary care doc's perspective, i asked my PCP abt it actually recently - He said doing outpatient medicine has basically been ruined and it is god-awful. He told me he has like a 3" stack of paperwork that he works on every day and it never goes away and that's seperate from his online messaging requirements. Its really hard to have an independent practice nowadays so he regretfully works for a huge group and they have all kinds of metrics and goals he's supposed to meet for patient volume. Insurance companies and mega-corp hospital groups have driven this. You know a Kaiser doc is supposed to spend 11 mins per patient? But if they sit down, the patient will perceive the visit as being longer (true story). My doc said the majority of his day is paperwork, not actually spending time w his pts.
I suspect the concierge model is going to become more popular. I also think its like a blowback to all the BS requirements and metrics from insurance companies and hospital corporations. From my understanding patients are less and less satisfied and the primary care docs are generally super burned out. My doc is my age (40s) and told me he wishes he had done just abt any other career. Fucking sad
So the concierge doc says fuck insurance companies and 11 minute visits. I'll manage 300-500 patients (a standard practice is more like 2-2,500 patients) and just take cash payment.

 

[bg65]

And to sweeten the pot, obamacare linke medicare payments to patient satisfaction survey scores... when there's multiple studies that show patient satisfaction is inversely related to outcomes...

Unintended Consequences of Tying Reimbursement to Patient Satisfaction Surveys​

According to a study in the Journal of American Medicine, patients who are more satisfied based on their responses to the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey, are less likely to visit emergency departments, but are more likely to become inpatients. They also have higher health care costs and increased mortality rates. Another study conducted by Dartmouth Hitchcock and the University of Michigan suggests that satisfied patients are more likely to struggle with opioid addiction. Causality was not confirmed in the study, but, as mentioned above, CMS has removed questions about pain management from HCHAPS to address this valid concern. Researchers speculate that physicians whose compensation is tied to patient satisfaction are more likely to give in to patients who request medically-unnecessary treatments that may have adverse effects. It is also purported that physicians may be less inclined to tell patients things they don’t want to hear such as, “You need to lose weight,” or “It’s critical for you to quit smoking.”

I can see how saying fuck off to that model and doing the concierge thing would be appealing.
Also, i looked it up, endocrinologists average less income than a regular internest. So why do more training to earn less? (Back to the original point of this thread)

 

[qbkilla]

Did you take the appt? In my neck of the woods endos appts are May/June time frame. That’s for new patients, for existing patients the Schedular said they can work you in the same week.

I couldn't due to an important work meeting. I asked them if they had a different Endo they got me in with a different doctor same facility in a month. Hopefully he will be better than the female doctor who blamed everything on my "test booster" I told her I was taking to explain high test levels. Prohormone, but actually prop.

 

[qbkilla]

Bro forget specialists - in South Florida there are no more normal internists! All these fucking sheisters are switching to the “VIP doc” bullshit. Basically cutting down their patient roster making you pay 5k a year just to have access to them and no longer accept insurance. This shit makes me sick. “Do no harm” my fucking dick. My parents are wealthy but my dad won’t do it out of principle. They are having a hard time figuring out what to do. They have a few close friends who are specialists and will order their cholesterol meds and what not. But I feel for the average joe who has no other options…

I wonder how this benefits them? Always thought insurance was part of the cash cow that feeds big pharma?

Create problems. Have doctor diagnose, then sell the cure. Insurance premium and tax dollars for people on government health care are what feeds the system? Do they have enough rich people that they don't need insurance dollars?