Why Do Doctors Stop Accepting New Patients?

In today's healthcare landscape, finding a new primary care physician can feel like an uphill battle. As patients navigate the process of researching and selecting a doctor, many are confronted with the frustrating reality of doctors not accepting new patients. 

This growing challenge is fueled by a nationwide physician shortage, which the American Association of Medical Colleges predicts could reach between 17,800 and 48,000 primary care providers by 2034. Coupled with an aging population requiring increased medical attention, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19, this shortage has led many physicians to reach capacity and temporarily halt the acceptance of new patients. 

If you're struggling to find a doctor, you're not alone — at PartnerMD, many of our physicians have also hit their patient panel limits. But why is this happening?

1. The physician's patient panel has reached its maximum capacity.

In medicine, the term “patient panel” refers to a physician’s total roster of patients. In traditional primary care practices, physicians often care for a total of 2,000 patients or more.

In concierge medicine practices, it’s frequently somewhere between 400-600 patients. Once a physician reaches their capacity on their patient panel, they stop accepting new patients.

This allows them to provide the best care possible for the patients they do have without compromising quality.

However, providing high-quality care when trying to care for 2,000 patients total and working through 20+ patients per day is one of the reasons many physicians switch to concierge medicine, so they have more time to be the best physician possible for all their patients.

2. They have added a significant number of new patients in a short period of time.

For physicians, new patients require more time than someone they’ve been seeing for years, simply because it takes time to get to fully understand a person’s medical history, personal life, and goals.

If a physician has added many new patients recently, they may take a break from accepting new patients to give them time to fully onboard the new patients. As long as they haven’t reached their capacity on their patient panel, this can be temporary.

At PartnerMD, we sometimes hit pause for physicians who have added many new patients. This allows them to get to know their new patients and provide the kind of care they expect while keeping the physician's workload and ability to best care for all their patients as manageable as possible.

3. The physician may be retiring soon or simply moving to a new job in a new market.

This one is pretty simple. Both of these situations would warrant limiting new patients. If a physician is retiring soon or moving, it doesn’t make sense for them to accept new patients that they’ll only provide care to for a short period of time.  

Explore Concierge Medicine at PartnerMD

Understanding the reasons behind doctors not accepting new patients — whether due to reaching capacity, onboarding new patients, or preparing for retirement or relocation — can help you navigate this landscape more effectively.  

At PartnerMD, while many of our physicians are at capacity, our concierge medicine model offers alternative doctors that are accepting new patients. 

Want to learn more about concierge medicine? Download our free guide to Understanding Concierge Medicine today.