EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2026
Highlights:
MINNEAPOLIS — People with insurance through an employer or another commercial plan experienced an average wait time of 50 days for their first visit with a neurology provider, according to a study published April 29, 2026, in Neurology ® , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology . Wait times were influenced by factors such as demographics, insurance coverage, geographic location and the eventual neurological diagnosis—while the number of neurologists available per person in an area appeared to have little impact on wait times.
“Our study found that when looking at wait times to see neurologists, it is not a simple supply and demand issue,” said study author John P. Ney, MD, MPH, of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “We found that how long you wait to see a neurologist depends on things like how serious your condition is, your sex, where you live, and what kind of insurance you have.”
For the study, researchers looked at five years of data on people with commercial insurance plans to identify 114,034 people who had a first visit to a neurologist. Participants had an average age of 42.
They then looked back to determine how many days people waited for the neurology appointment after seeing a primary care or emergency department provider. Researchers then calculated average wait times and broke these down by factors such as sex, race, neurological condition, insurance type and where the patient lived.
The study found that, on average, people waited about 50 days for their first neurology appointment.
Researchers found that female participants had shorter wait times compared to male participants, averaging about seven days fewer.
They also found that certain neurological conditions resulted in faster appointments. People with stroke, dizziness or vertigo were seen about eight days sooner and people with traumatic brain injury were seen about 6.5 days sooner.
Researchers found that people with multiple sclerosis faced longer waits, averaging four extra days.
They also found that where you live matters. People who lived in the Northeast region, which includes states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, had the longest waits—an average of five days more than other areas.
“If we want faster, fairer access to neurological care, we may need to look at systemic and structural issues, such as the number of neurologists in certain subspecialty areas, trying out new methods for triaging patients and redesigning the referral process,” Ney said. “These results show we still need a better understanding of why some patients wait longer than others. Future research can help pinpoint where delays occur—and test solutions that get patients to the right neurological care sooner.”
A limitation of the study was that it relied on insurance claims data, which does not include detailed clinical information or exact referral dates, so wait times may not fully reflect the reasons patients were referred or the urgency of their symptoms.
The study was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Neurology