More than half of primary care physicians in Massachusetts areno longer accepting new patients, and more patients than ever arefacing lengthy wait times to see both primary care and specialtydoctors, according to a new report. Despite being the state thatwas ahead of the game on health care reform when then-Gov. MittRomney passed the universal health care law in 2006, a reportreleased by the Massachusetts Medical Society shows criticalstatistics of health care in the state are worrying doctors.

“Massachusetts has made great strides in securing insurancecoverage for its citizens,” says Dr. Alice Coombs, president of theMassachusetts Medical Society. “But insurance coverage doesn’tequal access to care. We still have much work to do to reduce waittimes and widen access.

This has important implications for health care cost control, asdifficulty or delay with routine access to care leads people toseek other options, such as the emergency room, which is much morecostly.” In fact, recent statistics from the American College ofEmergency Physicians show that more than 80 percent of ER doctorssaid emergency room visits were increasing in their departments,most reporting “significant” rises.

Additionally, 97 percent of ER physicians reported treatingpatients on a daily basis who were referred to them by primary caredoctors, shattering the presumption that ER visits are for peoplewithout health care coverage. MMS officials say the report findingsreflect a significant shortage of primary care physicians. Thereport — which compiled results after surveying 838 primary careand specialty doctors throughout February and March — found that 51percent of internists and 53 percent of family physicians are notaccepting new patients.

Those figures remain close to last year’s findings, which showed49 percent of internists and 54 percent of family physicians notaccepting new patients. This is the fifth consecutive year that theMedical Society has recorded critical and severe shortages of bothinternists and family physicians. Even when patients do have aprimary care doctor, they’re still waiting a long time for anappointment.

The average wait time for an appointment with an internist is 48days, which is five days shorter than last year, but the averagewait for family medicine is 36 days, up seven days from the 2010survey. Internal medicine was the only specialty reporting ashorter wait time, yet at 48 days it has the longest wait time ofany of the seven specialties surveyed.

The wait to see gastroenterologists,obstetricians/gynecologists, orthopedic surgeons and cardiologistswere all higher than they were a year ago, the report said. Theaverage wait time for pediatricians was 24 days, the same as lastyear, with 73 percent of them accepting new patients. Access tospecialists is easier than primary care, with 82 percent ofcardiologists, 85 percent of obstetricians/ gynecologists, 95percent of gastroenterologists, and 97 percent of orthopedicsurgeons, accepting new patients.

The report also found a striking gap between primary carephysicians accepting Medicare and MassHealth, the state’s Medicaidprogram. While most internists (85 percent) and family physicians(87 percent) accept Medicare, only 53 percent of internists and 62percent of family physicians accept MassHealth. Additionally, whilemost specialists accept Medicare and MassHealth, they do not acceptCommonwealth Choice and Commonwealth Care, the state administeredprogram for low and moderate income adults not eligible forMedicaid.