Length of Time Between Referral and Visit

@tamip The length of time between referral and the actual appointment will vary. I imagine it depends on the availability of the providers at Mayo Clinic. Here are a few of my experiences:

1) Orthopedics (for total hip replacement) was 3 months between referral to appointment.
2) Gynecological Oncology Surgery was only a few days however this was more urgent and there is no one where I live in the UP of Michigan that works in this speciality.
3) Endocrinology for osteoporosis was 4 months.

Your husband’s pulmonologist may have referred to Mayo Clinic in the past so they may have more information.

I hope that the appointment today is informative and his local pulmonologist will spend time with you both to figure out what to do next.

tamip @tamip

Mayo gets more request and referrals than they can accommodate, so appointments are reviewed and prioritized. The time from referral, review and approval and actual appointment varies.

And as @naturegirl5 mentioned, depends on speciality.

Look at this comment answering a similar question:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/981992/
Laurie

I received a referral on a Monday and they called me to schedule an appointment the next day. My appointment was scheduled the next week. This is my first appointment, and I'm very nervous too.

Welcome, @lindaknick. You'll be in good hands and members here can answer questions you may have as you prepare for your visit to Mayo Clinic. May I ask what department you'll be visiting and at which Mayo Clinic location? Do you have to travel far?

Welcome to Connect @lindaknick. I have been treated at Mayo for almost 12 years now. I’m glad you got in so quickly. I had that same experience when I first inquired (without a referral) with a diagnosis of skin cancer in my ear. The response from the ENT group was quick and surgery followed 5 days later. My husband is treated in Urology and his wait times have always been longer. Mayo is such a busy place and they work so hard to do the best for each patient. Their team approach brings in the specialists that your particular problem needs. You will be in great hands. Research your diagnosis and write down questions. It can be overwhelming but you are the one advocating for your best health care. Good luck to you.

I self-referred to Mayo Pulmonology and was called by the doctor the next morning with an immediate appointment. I had called earlier to see when they were scheduling since I had an abnormal chest x-ray. The Dept told me to set up a Mayo account - and then send actual scans when I had them. When and if one gets an appointment is dependent on the health issue. I have gotten appointments in other Mayo depts fairly promptly since they impact my cancer treatment.
Does your insurance require a referral to Mayo?

When my husband had surgery locally to remove a brachial cyst on his neck - and it turned out not to be a brachial cyst - it was cancer in his lymph nodes in his neck - we were desperate. It had taken us so so long just to get to that point with an ENT to be evaluated and have the surgery. We knew time was not on our side, and the notion of having to battle so hard to get help after his cancer diagnosis...we were desperate. I called Mayo Jacksonville on the Friday after his surgery earlier that week. They wanted to see his diagnosis and surgical notes. I sent both immediately. Mayo called back within the hour and scheduled my husband to be seen the next business day which was Monday. His initial doctor at Mayo saw him on Monday and set up follow up appointments for Tuesday with more providers and more scans and tests for my husband. My husband started radiation 8 days later at Mayo. He finished treatment 6 months ago and is cancer free now. We go back every 90 days for more scans and tests - his cancer has a high recurrence rate. But so far, he's still still cancer free. I can not say enough good things about our care at Mayo. I am absolutely certain that but for Mayo's prompt and excellent care, our outcome would not have been nearly so positive. My sense is that if the patient has a complex disease or complex cancer diagnosis (as we did) , Mayo will move mountains to get the patient cared for - they know it is literally life or death - as was our situation. For more chronic/less acute diagnoses, I think it can take quite a bit longer to be approved for care at Mayo.

@aerrett Thank you for sharing your story. Mayo prioritizes cases and you’re right, that is what you both needed. My husband had a scare with melanoma after a bump came up on his hand that he thought was a wart. We were very lucky it had not spread into the lymph nodes. That wasn’t at Mayo.

I am a Mayo patient and first came there for spine surgery. When I later broke my ankle, I contacted my Mayo surgeon because I didn’t know where I could find a good surgeon for my badly fractured ankle. Within an hour, I had a message from him and a recommendation followed by a call from the orthopedic surgeons staff and I was on his schedule a few days later for the consultation and surgery a day later. At the time, I had an external cage and the wounds had been cleaned and closed and I was to find a surgeon to fix it. I had contacted some locals and didn’t get responses or had to travel through crazy city traffic and wait a couple weeks for an appointment and I wasn’t able to drive myself. I am thankful that Mayo had the capacity to offer timely help and that the relationship with my spine surgeon made that possible.
Jennifer

My daughter was referred to Mayo, MN over a week ago. We have not heard from them. The Dr. seemed to think it was important to get in for surgery quick as injury was almost a month ago. I’m worried! Help

jackie84 | @jackie84

I suggest you call on Monday morning and check on status of referral.

Rochester, Minnesota, Central Appointment Office
507-538-3270
7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday

Laurie