Under a new set of proposed regulations, patients in Health Maintenance Organizations across California will witness their waiting times for attaining a doctor's appointment being cut down, and even their telephone calls to physicians will be answered more quickly. For the first time ever, the new rules look to establish time standards in medical services, thereby helping patients receive whatever they require well in time.

Regulators from California have said that the state would be the first with such time sets, which require that HMO patients are attended to by a general practitioner within 10 business days of asking for an appointment. A specialist, on the other hand, would have to attend a patient within a maximum of two weeks.

Also, doctors will be required to return a call put in by a patient within a maximum of 30 minutes, and should be available 24 hours. Patients who have urgent or special needs must be seen within
48 hours.

“These are groundbreaking firsts in national consumer protections to ensure patients get the care they need, when they need it", said Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Health Access California.

All the new rules had already been authorized in 2002 by a state law, but had been delayed by years, mainly because of "bureaucratic wrangling". These regulations will now be unveiled on Wednesday and phased over the coming year.