Patients in Washington, D.C., had the highest median time spent in the emergency department, while patients in North Dakota had the lowest, CMS data shows.
The agency's "Timely and Effective Care" dataset, updated July 26, 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.
Data was collected from October 2021 through September 2022. Averages include data for Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense hospitals. Learn more about the methodology here.
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.
Here's how each state and Washington, D.C., stacks up.
- North Dakota — 108 minutes
- Nebraska — 115
- South Dakota — 115
- Hawaii — 116
- Iowa — 119
- Oklahoma — 119
- Kansas — 124
- Montana — 127
- Mississippi — 129
- Idaho — 132
- Louisiana — 132
- Arkansas — 134
- Minnesota — 134
- Wyoming — 135
- Utah — 137
- Indiana — 138
- Colorado — 141
- Alaska — 143
- Kentucky — 143
- Texas — 144
- Alabama — 145
- Wisconsin — 146
- Nevada — 147
- Washington — 147
- West Virginia — 153
- Missouri — 155
- Georgia — 157
- Ohio — 157
- Tennessee — 160
- Florida — 164
- New Hampshire — 164
- Maine — 165
- New Mexico — 166
- South Carolina — 168
- Oregon — 171
- Michigan — 172
- Virginia — 172
- Illinois — 174
- North Carolina — 174
- Vermont — 178
- California — 180
- Pennsylvania — 180
- Connecticut — 182
- New Jersey — 191
- Arizona — 193
- New York — 201
- Delaware — 210
- Massachusetts — 213
- Rhode Island — 214
- Maryland — 242
- District of Columbia — 329