It’s not always easy to find the care you need after hours or on weekends. When you do, there’s the crowded waiting rooms, the sense of being rushed through your ten-minute appointment, and the long waits for specialist care. 

Over the years, it all adds up, leading to stress that can impact your mental health with symptoms like anxiety, depression, and burnout. 

The Psychological Cost of Waiting for Care

In an ideal world, a concerning symptom would prompt a same-day appointment, a swift diagnosis, and a clear treatment plan. But in the American healthcare system, it more often triggers a weeks-long odyssey: waiting for a primary care slot, waiting for a specialist referral, waiting for prior authorization, waiting for test results.

In 2022, the average wait time to see a new physician in major American cities was over three weeks. For specialist care, it can stretch even longer: 42 days for an OB/GYN, 40 days for a gastroenterologist, 36.5 days for a dermatologist, and 12 days for an orthopedic surgeon.

During that time, patients are left to sit with their symptoms, their fears, and their unanswered questions. For many, this diagnostic limbo is its own form of suffering—a prolonged state of uncertainty that feeds anxiety and makes it difficult to function normally. And the longer a patient spends in limbo, the more their mental health is affected. These delays can also cause a feedback loop of hesitancy to seek care: 15% of people who avoid going to the doctor do so because of time constraints.

Physician Burnout and Its Effect on Patients

It would be easy to look at the epidemic of rushed, impersonal medical care and blame the doctors. But in many ways, physicians are fellow casualties of the same broken system.

Studies suggest that doctors now spend nearly two hours on administrative tasks for every one hour of direct patient care. Between prior authorization requests, electronic health record documentation, and  insurance billing, many doctors don't have more than 15 minutes with every patient, leaving little room for the kind of attentive, holistic care that both doctors and patients want.

The result is widespread physician burnout. More than half of American physicians report symptoms of burnout, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of accomplishment. And while physicians are trained to maintain professionalism regardless of how they feel, burnout inevitably affects the patient experience. Appointments feel rushed. Concerns feel dismissed. Patients leave with their questions half-answered and their anxieties unaddressed.

This has real consequences. Patients who feel unheard by their doctors are less likely to ask follow-up questions, less likely to adhere to treatment plans, and less likely to return for follow-up care. The erosion of trust between patient and physician—driven not by individual failure but by systemic pressure— quietly undermines health outcomes across the board.

Poor Mental Health Worsens Physical Health Outcomes

When these problems combine, the mental and emotional impact on patients can affect their bodies, too. Chronic stress triggers the sustained release of cortisol and other stress hormones, which suppress immune function, raise blood pressure, increase inflammation, and elevate the risk of cardiovascular disease. Anxiety and depression are associated with poorer outcomes across virtually every major category of illness, from diabetes to cancer to heart disease.

When the healthcare system itself becomes a source of chronic stress—when navigating a diagnosis involves months of uncertainty, financial terror, and feeling dismissed—it is actively working against the health of the patients it is meant to serve. This is the feedback loop at the heart of the American healthcare crisis: a system that generates anxiety and distrust produces patients who are less able to engage with care, less likely to follow through on treatment, and physiologically less equipped to heal. Healthcare-induced stress is not a side effect of a broken system.  

How Sollis Supports Our Members’ Mental Health

At Sollis Health, we believe that feeling supported and at ease should be the baseline of every healthcare experience. Our concierge medical model is designed to interrupt the cycle of anxiety, delay, and disconnection that defines so much of American healthcare, especially for urgent and emergency medical needs. 

Sollis eliminates delays in care:

• Sollis's in-person and virtual care is available 24/7, 365 days a year, with no appointment required and average waits of 3.5 minutes so members can be seen the moment they need care
• Our rapid on-site diagnostics, including blood work, labs, and imaging—with CT, X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, and EKG—delivers results the same day, often within minutes
• When specialist care is needed, our Care Navigation Team secures appointments 67% faster than the national average from our trusted network of over 2,000 leading specialists

Sollis creates deep connections between patients and clinicians:

• Sollis members have 24/7 access to ER-trained physicians via call, text, or video so one has to spiral over a worrying symptom at 2 am
• Sollis's emergency medicine-trained physicians know their patients by name—not by chart. Like traditional primary care, Sollis's urgent and emergency medicine is a relationship built on trust
• Our concierge model means our clinicians see a fraction of the patient volume typical in conventional urgent and emergency medicine, giving every member the time, attention, and genuine connection they need 

Sollis breaks the cycle of stress and poor health outcomes:

• Sollis provides seamless, coordinated support from first call through follow-up, working in partnership with members’ existing PCPs and specialists
• Proactive and preventive care like vaccines, IV therapy, and routine blood work helps Sollis members stay ahead of health concerns before they escalate into emergencies
• Because our members know that excellent care is always available, the chronic background stress of healthcare uncertainty is replaced with something rare in American medicine: true peace of mind