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 that was ahead of the game on healthcare reform when then-Gov. Mitt Romney passed the universal healthcare law in 2006, the report released Monday by the MassachusettsMedical Society shows critical statistics of health care in thestate are worrying doctors.

“Massachusetts has made great strides in securing insurancecoverage for its citizens,” said 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 healthcare cost control, as difficulty or delay with routine access tocare leads people to seek other options, such as the emergencyroom, which is much more costly.”

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. [See ER visits will increase with health care reform, doctors say]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.

“Many of my patients do what they are supposed to do — they calltheir primary care doctor when they have problems,” says DarriaLong Gillespie, a resident physician at Yale Department ofEmergency Medicine. But primary care doctors often worry they don’thave the time or resources to treat them and instead send them tothe ER, she says.

“You can’t just say these people need to have coverage and havea primary care doctor,” she says. “In reality, you have to look athow it’s actually going to be executed. Who is going to take careof these people?”

A significant shortage

MMS officials agree that their report findings reflect asignificant shortage of primary care physicians.

The report — which compiled results after surveying 838 primarycare and specialty doctors throughout February and March — foundthat 51 percent of internists and 53 percent of family physiciansare not accepting new patients. Those figures remain close to lastyear’s findings, which showed 49 percent of internists and 54percent of family physicians not accepting new patients.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the Medical Society hasrecorded critical and severe shortages of both internists andfamily physicians.

Even when patients do have a primary care doctor, they'restill waiting a long time for an appointment. The average wait timefor an appointment with an internist is 48 days, which is five daysshorter than last year, but the average wait for family medicine is36 days, up seven days from the 2010 survey. Internal medicinewas the only specialty reporting a shorter wait time, yet at 48days it has the longest wait time of any of the seven specialtiessurveyed.

The wait to see gastroenterologists,obstetricians/gynecologists, orthopedic surgeons and cardiologistswere all higher than they were a year ago, the report said.

The average wait time for pediatricians was 24 days, the same aslast year, with 73 percent of them accepting new patients. Accessto specialists 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.

Government insurance

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 (87percent) accept Medicare, only 53 percent of internists and 62percent of family physicians accept MassHealth.

Additionally, while most specialists accept Medicare andMassHealth, they do not accept Commonwealth Choice and CommonwealthCare, the state administered program for low and moderate incomeadults not eligible for Medicaid.