Becker's has compiled a list of hospitals and health systems with the longest emergency department visit times using data from CMS' provider data catalog.
The CDC tracks the overall median length of stay for ED patients as part of its "timely and effective care" measure set. The data was released Jan. 31 and covers ED visits recorded from April 2022 through March 2023. Measures in this dataset apply to all adults and children treated in hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System or the Outpatient Prospective Payment System. Learn more about the measures here.
Nationwide, the median ED visit time was 162 minutes, up from 159 minutes in the 12-month period ending March 2022, CMS data shows.
Below are 10 hospitals or health systems with the longest median ED visit times. Becker's also compiled wait times for the same period a year prior to understand how figures have changed.
Note: CMS does not include hospitals' total ED volumes or case mix index in the dataset. For additional context, Becker's collected estimated annual ED volumes for all hospitals with the data publicly available on their websites. Six of the 10 organizations (bolded below) operate level 1 trauma centers.
ED visit time |
Sample size |
Previous ED visit time |
Sample size |
Estimated annual ED volumes |
|
Delta Health System - The Medical Center (Greenville, Miss.) |
744 minutes |
173 patients |
185 minutes |
276 patients |
|
Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center |
439 |
350 |
330 |
346 |
|
George Washington University Hospital (Washington, D.C.) |
435 |
383 |
398 |
375 |
|
Duke University Hospital (Durham, N.C.) |
412 |
324 |
349 |
360 |
|
Harris Health System (Houston) |
410 |
446 |
374 |
666366 |
|
Medstar Franklin Square Medical Center (Rosedale, Md.) |
399 |
298 |
364 |
355 |
|
Los Angeles General Medical Center |
398 |
365 |
352 |
360 |
|
Grady Memorial Hospital (Atlanta) |
396 |
392 |
375 |
407 |
|
St Joseph's Hospital Health Center (Syracuse, N.Y.) |
395 |
346 |
341 |
309 |
|
Doctors' Center Bayamon (Bayamon, P.R.)* |
392 |
944 |
370 |
891 |
-- |
*Data is based on a shorter time period than required, according to CMS.
Editor's note: This article was updated Feb. 21 at 9:27 a.m.