Expanding access: Lowering your wait for an appointment
In 2004, the average wait to see a physician was 21 days.
By 2017, the wait jumped to 24 days.
Last year, the average wait for an appointment with a physician across all specialties climbed to 26 days.
Those wait times, published as a report following a nationwide survey, are only expected to increase as the demand for health care grows in the coming years.
This was the starting point for McLaren Central Michigan.
“The primary care providers in our community take great pride in caring for their patients they’re privileged to serve,” said Robert David, McLaren Central Michigan President and CEO. “The focus of our efforts has been dedicated to increasing access to primary care, lowering our patients wait time, and connecting them to the prompt care they need.”
The prevalence and frustration of waiting has reached the point that of the 84 percent of Americans who have a primary care provider, 65 percent of them said they would rather pay for an emergency department visit for care than wait for an appointment.
To address this industrywide trend, while also enhancing their patients’ overall health care experience, McLaren Central Michigan focused its effort to expand its staff of primary care providers, adding several since the beginning of 2023 and with plans to continue growing.
Cecilia First, FNP-C
McLaren Central - Pickard Street Primary Care
5115 E Pickard St.
Mount Pleasant, MI 48858
(989) 956-4106
Grant McConaughy, FNP-BC
McLaren Central - RHC Health Park 4
2853 Health Parkway Suite A
Mount Pleasant, MI 48858
(989) 779-5222
Susanna Storeng, DMSC, PA-C
McLaren Central Health Park 7
2940 Health Parkway
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
(989) 779-5262
McLaren Central Pediatrics
1201 South Dr., Ste. 341
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
(989) 953-5313
Dr. Puneet Uppal
McLaren Central Health Park 7
2940 Health Pkwy.
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
(989) 779-5262
Kara Witmer, FNP-C
McLaren Central Pediatrics
1201 South Dr., Ste. 341
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
(989) 953-5313
Find your nearest provider offering increased access and make an appointment with McLaren Central Michigan for primary care at mclaren.org/primarycare.
About McLaren Central Michigan
McLaren Central Michigan is a 118-bed acute care hospital located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It offers a full range of health and wellness services including primary care, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, emergency medicine and cancer services. McLaren Central Michigan is recognized as an accessible and dependable source of quality medical care for residents of Mount Pleasant, Isabella County and central Michigan. In addition to its medical staff of over 50 active physicians, it is affiliated with more than 150 other quality providers. The hospital is one of the region’s largest employers, with approximately 550 employees and another 100 volunteers. McLaren Central Michigan received the Governor’s Award of Excellence in 2017 and 2019 and is named as one of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. It is the only hospital in the central Michigan area to receive a Safety “A” grade in the Hospital Safety report in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Learn more at
mclaren.org/centralmichigan.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $6.6 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 14 hospitals in Michigan, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 490-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 732,838 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 53 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 113,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Learn more at mclaren.org.