[tzs]

Sometimes a doctor is available but crappy scheduling software hides that.

I got a small scratch from a squirrel and since it did cause a little blood to appear I figured better safe than sorry and went to Kaiser's site to make an appointment with my PCP.

They had nothing for a few weeks.

So I changed to requesting an appointment with any doctor at the same facility. It then gave me an appointment with my PCP for the next day at 9 am.

I've seen similar problems with vaccine scheduling using their web site. It will sometimes only show appointments at a bigger Kaiser facility in the next town, or an even bigger one 30 minutes away.

But if I actually go in and talk to the people at the front desk at the Kaiser office in my town they can often make me an appointment at that facility.

[tripper_27]

It's also much faster to get in front of a NP than a doctor.

[nradov]

As it should be. One of the few levers we have to control costs across the healthcare system is shifting much of routine primary and urgent care to PA/NP practitioners. I understand that might mean a loss of quality in some cases (have been on the receiving end of that myself) but we'll have to lower our expectations and be content with good enough.