According to new CDC data the average wait time at US hospital emergency rooms have increased from 38 minutes to nearly one hour over the past decade. At the same time the number of emergency departments have dropped, which further exacerbates the problem. Emergency departments are often forced to shut down due to poor reimbursement for the services they provide. At the same time more and more patients are using the ER as their primary care facility for a variety of reasons – delaying care due to increased health care costs, difficulty in getting appointments to see their physicians in a timely manner, and lack of health insurance. The results are troubling, but not surprising. Full story.
Tags: emergency, ER, hospital, wait time
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I am a seizure patient. It will never make any difference how long the wait time is or how many emergency rooms there are!!!! If we don’t have a better health plan. I have went to the E.R. because of multiple seizures. While in triage go into a grandmal seizure. Then sent to wait in the waiting area for more than 8 hours seizures coming and going
August 7th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Maxwell – that is very upsetting to hear. In fact, that sounds more like mismanagment in the context of a sick health care system. Obviously, I can’t necessarily comment on it specifically because I don’t know the details of what happend. But, I think your case resonates with those who are calling for a real change in how health care is delivered in our country.