ER visit times: Here’s how long patients spend in emergency rooms in each state
Data released this summer from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated the average emergency room (ER) visit times for each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Patients in Washington, D.C. had the longest average visit — at 5 hours and 29 minutes.
The shortest median visit was in North Dakota, where patients spent an average of 1 hour and 48 minutes in the ER.
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The data came from the CMS “Timely and Effective Care” measurements, collected between October 2021 and September 2022.
They were released on July 26.
The numbers included visits of children and adults whose care was covered by Medicare’s Inpatient Prospective Payment System or Outpatient Prospective Payment System.
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Also included were visits from hospitals that chose to report visit information for Medicare patients, Medicare managed care patients and non-Medicare patients.
Below are the average visit times by state, from shortest to longest, as compiled by Becker’s Hospital Review:
- North Dakota — 1 hour and 48 minutesNebraska — 1 hour and 55 minutesSouth Dakota — 1 hour and 55 minutesHawaii — 1 hour and 56 minutesIowa — 1 hour and 59 minutesOklahoma — 1 hour and 59 minutesKansas — 2 hours and 4 minutesMontana — 2 hours and 7 minutesMississippi — 2 hours and 9 minutesIdaho — 2 hours and 12 minutesLouisiana — 2 hours and 12 minutesArkansas — 2 hours and 14 minutesMinnesota — 2 hours and 14 minutesWyoming — 2 hours and 15 minutesUtah — 2 hours and 17 minutesIndiana — 2 hours and 18 minutesColorado — 2 hours and 21 minutesAlaska — 2 hours and 23 minutesKentucky — 2 hours and 23 minutesTexas — 2 hours and 24 minutesAlabama — 2 hours and 25 minutesWisconsin — 2 hours and 26 minutesNevada — 2 hours and 27 minutesWashington — 2 hours and 27 minutesWest Virginia — 2 hours and 33 minutesMissouri — 2 hours and 35 minutesGeorgia — 2 hours and 37 minutesOhio — 2 hours and 37 minutesTennessee — 2 hours and 40 minutesFlorida — 2 hours and 44 minutesNew Hampshire — 2 hours and 44 minutesMaine — 2 hours and 45 minutesNew Mexico — 2 hours and 46 minutesSouth Carolina — 2 hours and 48 minutesOregon — 2 hours and 51 minutesMichigan — 2 hours and 52 minutesVirginia — 2 hours and 52 minutesIllinois — 2 hours and 54 minutesNorth Carolina — 2 hours and 54 minutesVermont — 2 hours and 58 minutesCalifornia — 3 hoursPennsylvania — 3 hoursConnecticut — 3 hours and 2 minutesNew Jersey — 3 hours and 11 minutesArizona — 3 hours and 13 minutesNew York — 3 hours and 21 minutesDelaware — 3 hours and 30 minutesMassachusetts — 3 hours and 33 minutesRhode Island — 3 hours and 34 minutesMaryland — 4 hours and 2 minutesDistrict of Columbia — 5 hours and 29 minutes
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Median visit times have been on the rise amid staffing shortages and an increase in patient volume.
The average visit time nationwide is 160 minutes, up from 155 minutes as of September 2021 and 143 minutes in 2020, per CMS data.
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Between 2011 and 2021, emergency department visits among patients less than 65 years old that were paid by Medicaid rose from 34% to 45.3%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Melissa Rudy is health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital.