Rhode Island
GoLocalProv | News | Rhode Island ERs Have Nearly the Longest Waiting Times in America
Sunday, September 17, 2023
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A new report finds that emergency room wait times in Rhode Island are among the highest in the United States.
According to CMS data published by Becker’s Healthcare, patients in Washington, D.C., have the highest median time spent in the emergency department, while patients in North Dakota have the lowest.
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Where Does Rhode Island Rank?
Rhode Island ranks poorly. Patients wait on average 214 minutes — only Maryland at 242 minutes and Washington, D.C. rank worse. DC’s average waiting time is 329 minutes.
Rhode Island’s waiting times have risen nearly 600% in the past in the past seven years. A 2016 report found that RI’s average ER waiting time was 31 minutes.
CMS’ “Timely and Effective Care” dataset was updated July 26, and it tracks the average median time patients spend in the emergency department before leaving.
The measures apply to children and adults treated at hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System or the Outpatient Prospective Payment System, as well as those that voluntarily report data on relevant measures for Medicare patients, Medicare managed care patients and non-Medicare patients.
According to Becker, “Data was collected from October 2021 through September 2022. Averages include data for Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense hospitals. ED visit times in the U.S. have been rising amid staffing shortages and heightened demand for care. Nationwide, the median time patients spent in the ED was 160 minutes, up from 155 minutes in the 12 month period ending in September 2021, according to CMS data. In the same period ending in 2020, this figure sat at 143 minutes.”
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