Becker’s has compiled lists of hospitals and health systems with the shortest and longest emergency department visit times for psychiatric and mental health patients 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 Aug. 6 and covers ED visits recorded from January 2023 through December 2023. 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 median ED visit time for mental health patients was 271 minutes, up from 267, CMS data show.
Most hospitals on the list of the shortest visit times 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 20 hospitals and health systems with the shortest and longest median ED visit times, along with the sample size.
Note: The shortest visit time list includes ties.
Shortest
| Median ED visit time, minutes | Sample size, patient visits | |
| Washington County Hospital (Chatom, Ala.) | 7 | 55 |
| Crenshaw Community Hospital (Luverne, Ala.) | 19 | 49 |
| St. Vincent Hospital (Green Bay, Wis.) | 19 | 61 |
| St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center (Green Bay, Wis.) | 19 | 34 |
| Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (New York City) | 21 | 109 |
| Mary Lanning Healthcare (Hastings, Neb.) | 27 | 487 |
| Glendive (Mont.) Medical Center | 29 | 33 |
| Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville (Mo.) | 32 | 51 |
| Integris Health Edmond (Okl.) Hospital | 34 | 26 |
| Methodist Jennie Edmundson (Council Bluffs, Iowa) | 35 | 166 |
Longest
| Median ED visit time, minutes | Sample size, patient visits | |
| Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles) | 1996 | 135 |
| Baystate Medical Center (Springfield, Mass.) | 1175 | 389 |
| Shasta Regional Medical Center (Redding, Calif.) | 1142 | 198 |
| Adventist Healthcare White Oak Medical Center (Silver Spring, Md.) | 1032 | 47 |
| San Antonio Regional Hospital (Upland, Calif.) | 971 | 121 |
| Northwest Medical Center (Tucson, Ariz.) | 935 | 68 |
| Wellstar Spalding Medical Center (Griffin, Ga.) | 915 | 81 |
| Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center (Marietta, Ga.) | 882 | 358 |
| Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee | 806 | 76 |
| Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia) | 685 | 200 |
