Americans opposed to some version of Medicare for All, often cry socialized medicine (it’s not) and point to long wait for care under such systems. Yeah, there are waits, including in the US and it’s getting worse.
New study reveals the states where patients have to wait the longest for emergency treatment… does your state make the top ten?
- Marylanders must wait 239 minutes (four hours) in the emergency room, on average, before getting treatment, the highest on the list
- Delaware hospitals are second per waiting time, with 215 minutes
- The quickest state to treat patients is North Dakota, with 108 minutes of waiting time
Maryland is the state with the longest ER waiting time, a new study reveals.
The study, conducted by medical expert Med.ro, analyzed average waiting times from when patients arrive at the emergency room to when they are called in to be treated, to discover which state makes its population wait for the longest.
Maryland comes in first place, as patients have to wait on average 239 minutes before being called to get treated, which corresponds to 4 hours.
This is despite Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the largest medical center in the state with 1,162 beds, ranking #1 in Maryland and #5 in the nation on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals 2022–23 Honor Roll. The hospital’s emergency room is undergoing renovations to improve service, updating the waiting room and adding patient care spaces.
In second place come Delaware and Massachusetts, both with an average wait of 215 minutes, or 3 hours and 35 minutes.
Further down on the list, New York is fourth, with an average wait of 201 minutes, or 3 hours and 20 minutes, while the top five closes with Arizona, with 195 minutes of wait on average, corresponding to 3 hours and 15 minutes.
On the other side of the list, North Dakota has the shortest waiting time, as citizens must wait on average 108 minutes in the emergency room before getting treatment, corresponding to 1 hour and 48 minutes.
North Dakota is followed by Nebraska and South Dakota, whose respective waiting times are 114 and 116 minutes, corresponding to a little over 2 hours.
Dr Vlad Dobrescu, CEO of Med.ro commented on the findings: “Long wait times in American emergency rooms are a pressing issue that demands attention and action. American citizens must be given better access to timely medical care when they need it most, also considering the costs that often come with it.”
“Moreover, it’s disheartening to learn that Maryland holds the unfortunate distinction of having the longest wait times, which does not go in hand with the high-quality service the hospitals in the area claim to provide.”
“Addressing this problem requires a multi-faceted approach, including increased funding for healthcare resources, better staffing, and streamlined processes”.
Sources: Data.CMS.gov, Hopkinsmedicine.org, KFF.org, Definitivehc.com
Check your state at the link above.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Someone else already mentioned the use of ER’s by uninsured, which is certainly a factor here. Another possible factor may be the shortage of physicians, particularly for primary care. I moved to New England in 2022 and was just shocked at how difficult it was to even find a family doctor that would accept new patients, and also at how long the waiting times were for most specialities (allergy appts were 18 months out). A lot of this has been caused by private equity buying up and consolidating family practices. A safety net system is slowly being formed by urgent care clinics, ERs, and nurse practitioners/PA’s, but there is a still a real shortage of healthcare providers in what statistically is the most prosperous area of the country.
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There seems to be a problems with your link. It take one to some Romanian website. Your ranting must be affecting your accuracy.
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What percentage of people in each state do not have medical insurance? They know that hospitals have to treat them even without insurance. Wonder how many of those waiting truly are emergencies?
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That wad my understanding. ERs are full because they can’t call for a regular appointment, and/or they let a small complaint go untreated until it does become an emergency.
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“Was” my understanding. Wait time for me was when I needed surgery for kidney cancer, and they scheduled me several weeks out due to availability of surgeons and available ORs. And some other patients were more urgent. Not a problem, in my case.
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I’m not sure “average wait time “ is a good measure here. Emergecy Departments triage their patients. The issue is whether people who present with life threatening conditions are kept waiting,
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