The Waiting Game- New York’s Emergency Room Time Scary

This isn't very good news at all- New York has one of the slowest emergency room response times in the nation

A recent study by pre-settlement legal funding company High Rise Financial analyzed data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to discover the median time patients spent in the emergency department before leaving from the visit in each state, with lower times indicating a more efficient and effective emergency care process.

Patients in Maryland face the longest emergency room wait times before leaving the facility. The median time spent in emergency departments in the state averages 247 minutes – more than four hours – which is more than 30 minutes longer than the second state in the ranking, and 85 minutes above the national median of 162.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island share the second spot for the longest ER wait times, both averaging 214 minutes, which is 52 minutes above the US median time. Delaware and New York are also among the top five states with extended ER wait times, with patients in Delaware spending a median of 211 minutes, putting it in fourth place nationally, and those in New York 202 minutes before departure from the emergency department – the fifth longest time in the country.

On the other end of the spectrum, the study also highlighted states with the shortest median wait times before patient departure. Leading this positive trend is North Dakota, where patients spend an average of just 107 minutes in the emergency department. Nebraska follows closely with a median wait time of 114 minutes, and South Dakota is not far behind at 115 minutes. Both Iowa and Oklahoma share the 117-minute mark, tying for the fourth shortest time.