Dive Brief:
- The average wait time nationwide to see a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to 28 minutes, according to a report in FierceHealthcare. But wait times at emergency departments (ED) across the United States are rising dramatically, with many hospitals reporting wait times well above the national average.
- Higher ED patient volumes could be to blame, including patients who use the ED for dental care, according to a new study by the Florida Public Health Institute. More than 139,000 Floridians with dental complaints went to the ER in 2012, a 6.4% increase over the previous year.
- Despite the national trend, some EDs report that wait times are improving, particularly when staff are trained to manage ED patients quickly and effectively. Wait times also fall when EDs change the way they sort patients.
Dive Insight:
There will always be a pull and tug where ED wait times are concerned. Hospitals will go through phases where wait times are longer than others due to forces beyond their control -- such as shifts in the number of patients who use the ED for primary care -- and there will always be some hospitals that find ways to trim time off of ED wait times through workflow changes. The bottom line is that hospitals can control how many patients show up in the ED, just what they do with them.