Becker’s has compiled a list of hospitals and health systems with the shortest emergency department visit times using CMS’ Timely and Effective Care-Hospital data.
The CDC tracks the median length of stay for ED patients as part of its “timely and effective care” measure set. The data was released Feb. 19 and covers ED visits recorded from April 2023 through March 2024. Measures in this dataset apply to all adults and children treated in hospitals paid under either the inpatient or outpatient prospective payment systems. Learn more about the measures here.
Nationwide, the average ED visit time was 163 minutes in the 12-month period ending March 2024, CMS data shows.
Most hospitals on this list are small community or critical access hospitals that may see lower annual ED volumes and patient acuities than facilities operating Level 1 or 2 trauma centers. CMS does not include hospitals’ total ED volumes or case mix index in its dataset.
Below are 10 hospitals and health systems with the shortest median ED visit times, along with the previous wait times from the last data set for comparison.
| Median ED visit time
(for 12-month period ending March 2024) |
Sample size | Previous median ED visit time
(for 12-month period ending March 2023) |
Sample size | |
|
Rio Grande Hospital |
44 minutes | 178 patients | 52 minutes | 113 patients |
|
Mille Lacs Health System (Onamia, Minn.)* |
46 | 378 | 99 |
239 |
|
Lady of the Sea General Hospital (Cut Off, La.)* |
48 | 191 | 48 |
379 |
|
Mitchell County Hospital District |
52 | 406 | 48 |
406 |
|
Coteau Des Prairies Health Care System (Sisseton, S.D.)* |
55 | 231 | 74 |
318 |
|
Mercy Hospital Tishomingo (Okla.) |
55 | 361 | 63 |
370 |
|
Richardson Medical Center (Rayville, La.) |
55 | 409 | 60 |
385 |
|
Myrtue Medical Center (Harlan, Iowa)* |
59 | 279 | 74 |
273 |
|
Kula (Hawaii) Hospital |
60 |
216 | 68 |
224 |
| Hale Ho’ola Hamakua (Honokaa, Hawaii) | 60 | 257 | 68 |
263 |
*Data is based on a shorter time period than required, according to CMS.
