When do people actually reach for a doctor? Stats from 150+ consults
Last updated October 19, 2026.
De-identified, aggregated stats from Pymander's first 150+ consults across 140+ members - when people reach out, how fast they get an answer, and what they ask about.
Nearly half of Pymander consults - 48.2% - start between 8pm and 8am Eastern, when almost every doctor's office in the country is closed. Add weekends and the picture is clear: people reach for an AI doctor at exactly the hours the rest of healthcare is hardest to reach. These are de-identified, aggregated stats from our first 150+ consults across 140+ members, published so anyone can see how a free AI doctor actually gets used.
The stats at a glance
| Metric | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Consults and members | 150+ consults across 140+ members | Completed AI doctor consults, test accounts excluded, through October 19, 2026 |
| Median first response | 6.4 seconds | From a member's first message to the consult's first reply; p90 is 34.5 seconds |
| Consults starting 8pm-8am ET | 48.2% | Nearly half of all consults begin when offices are closed |
| Weekend consults | 30.0% | Saturday and Sunday starts, against the ~28.6% you would expect if usage were flat across the week |
| Members with 2+ consults | 11.0% | People who came back after the first consult |
| Busiest hours (ET) | 11am, 10pm, 1am, 8pm | Three of the four peak hours sit outside standard office hours |
| Top topic: cold, flu, respiratory | 10.0% of consults | Largest keyword-bucketed topic group |
| Second topic: mental health and sleep | 7.1% of consults | Second-largest keyword-bucketed topic group |
What we see in the numbers
The gap is after hours. If people used an AI doctor the way they use a doctor's office, consults would pile up between 9am and 5pm on weekdays. They do the opposite: nearly half start overnight, three of the four busiest hours are 8pm or later, and weekends run slightly above a flat share. The free AI doctor is not replacing the office visit at 2pm - it is answering the question at 1am that used to sit until morning, or worse, turn into an ER visit that did not need to happen.
Speed is the product. A median first response of 6.4 seconds means the consult starts the moment the worry does. No hold music, no portal login, no waiting room - the first reply lands before most telehealth apps finish loading.
People come back. 11.0% of consulting members have had two or more consults - early, but the shape we want to see: the first consult teaches people the product is there, the next one is a habit forming.
The questions are everyday medicine. Cold, flu and respiratory symptoms lead at 10.0%, with mental health and sleep at 7.1% - the two categories where the barrier to asking a human feels highest and the hours are worst.
Methodology
Source. Every number on this page comes from Pymander's own consult records, de-identified and aggregated, current through October 19, 2026. A consult is one completed AI doctor consult with a real member. Internal test accounts and red-team fixtures are excluded from every figure.
Privacy. All stats are aggregates. Topic buckets are keyword-based groupings of consult themes, and any category small enough to risk identifying a member is suppressed - which is why only two topic groups appear. No individual consult, member, or message content appears on this page.
Limits. These numbers describe a young, growing member base - they will shift as it scales. We republish this page as they do.
Related data
Our other public dataset tracks what common healthcare costs without insurance: cash prices for 1,078 medications, lab tests, visits and scans, every price traced to its published source. If a symptom is why you are here, the free AI doctor consult is the fastest way to ask about it - median first response 6.4 seconds, per the table above.
Common questions
How many consults has Pymander done?
150+ consults across 140+ members, as of October 19, 2026. A consult is one completed AI doctor consult with a real member; test accounts and internal red-team fixtures are excluded from every number on this page.
When do people use the AI doctor most?
When other care is closed: 48.2% of consults start between 8pm and 8am Eastern, and 30.0% start on weekends. The single busiest hours are 11am, 10pm, 1am and 8pm ET - three of the four are outside standard office hours.
How fast does the AI doctor respond?
The median first response is 6.4 seconds, and 90% of first responses arrive within 34.5 seconds. That is the time from a member's first message to the consult's first reply.
What do people ask about most?
The two largest keyword-bucketed topic groups are cold, flu and respiratory symptoms at 10.0% of consults, and mental health and sleep at 7.1%. All other topic groups are small enough that we suppress them to protect member privacy.
How are these stats computed?
From Pymander's own consult records through October 19, 2026, de-identified and aggregated. Test accounts are excluded, repeated consults by the same member are counted individually, and any category small enough to risk identifying a person is left out.