How long did you have to wait for an appt?

Hello,

I filled out the "request an appointment" form last week and was contacted by a coordinator on Monday. On Tuesday, I filled out the questionnaire that was sent to me via email to provide more information on my symptoms/concerns. How long does it take to hear back on whether or not your appointment request was accepted? Will they notify me via phone call, email, mail? Trying to be patient and keep my hopes/expectations within reason but it's difficult to not be anxious.

Thank you!
Rylee

@ryleecampbell0630 Hi Rylee. Hello and welcome to Connect. I think you will need to be patient because I think there may be limited time set aside for doctors to review cases. There are all busy seeing patients and usually fully scheduled, and they have to fit reviewing medical records into that scenario. I came to Mayo as a patient by contacting them on the website. I got the callback from a coordinator who set up an account within a day so I could mail in imaging CDs. After that, I heard back in about 5 weeks and was offered an appointment 5 days later because of a cancellation. You could get a notification like that, and need to be ready to travel in a few days. My consult and later surgery was in the spine center. I was told during he initial call, that it could take 3 months to get an appointment for the surgeon I wanted to see. That was my experience. If they deny an appointment, you may get a letter.

Jennifer

Hi @ryleecampbell0630, as you can read from Jennifer's experience and the experiences in this related discussion, the amount of time to hear back can vary from person to person and department to department.

A team of physicians will review your information and any related lab and imaging studies that may have been submitted with your request. This can take a few days up to a few weeks depending on the complexity of the situation.

If you wish, you can follow up with the appointment office some time, may be next week, to inquire on the status of your request. Have you downloaded the Mayo Clinic app?

My Doctor referred me to Mayo: How long before They answer back?
My Doctor, after 2 years of running test and still no answers to my condition-referred me to the Mayo. My doctor sent my records and I was contacted by Mayo saying they were reviewing my records. I’m wondering how long before they will get back to me.
Thank you

Hi @anonymousq, I can imagine that you are anxious to hear from Mayo Clinic after your doctor submitted a referral. How long it takes to hear back can vary from person to person. I moved your question to this related discussion, where you can read about the experiences of others.

- How long did you have to wait for an appt? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-long-does-it-take-to-decide-if-youll-be-granted-an-appt/

As the scheduler mentioned, a team of physicians will review your information and any related lab and imaging studies that may have been submitted with your request. This can take a few days up to a few weeks depending on the complexity of the situation and the department's capacity.

What department was the referral submitted to?

There are a lot of variables involved. When I called for a Urology appointment they offered me one the next day. Since we live in Michigan I suggested 4 days later. That was a great turnaround but no doubt quite rare.

My first appointment was brokered (maybe wrong word) through my ins co. They recommended me for a liver transplant and did pretesting in my home town. Sent the results to Mayo who then agreed for me to come down to AZ so they could test me themselves. It all worked out. Probably case by case but it might help to get local docs or ins co to recommend. Best of luck.

I self referred on a Monday, received a suggested time to speak with someone from Mayo, had a call later that same week (Thursday) that was like an intake interview, and 6 business days later was offered an appt two weeks out. I agree with one commenter to download the Mayo app so you can at least track when Mayo receives images and other info from your local providers who don’t put things on line which in my case were images from my MRI. This was my experience with initial orthopedics appt in March 2026. The Mayo app is vastly more extensive than what your local doc has on their site so you absolutely want to download it.

I don’t know if my experience is the norm or not. No one locally was 100% sure of what my problem(s) was. My cardiologist who trained at Mayo knew they had additional tests that were not available elsewhere. He referred me. About eight weeks later my Mayo triage team had decided the most advantageous course for me would be through the long covid clinic but needed cardiac clearance first. Cardiac clearance failed and I quickly went down a route of additional cardiac procedures.