Health Affairs

Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.2.w84 (Published online January 15, 2008) © 2008 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Waits To See An Emergency Department Physician: U.S. Trends And Predictors, 1997-2004

Andrew P. Wilper ^1*, Steffie Woolhandler ², Karen E. Lasser ³, Danny McCormick ⁴, Sarah L. Cutrona ⁵, David H. Bor ⁶, David U. Himmelstein ⁷

¹ Andrew Wilper is a fellow in general internal medicine at Harvard Medical School affiliated with the Cambridge Health Alliance, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
² Steffie Woolhandler is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a primary care doctor at Cambridge Hospital.
³ Karen Lasser is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance.
⁴ Danny McCormick is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance.
⁵ Sarah Cutrona is an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance.
⁶ David Bor is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Department of Medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance.
⁷ David Himmelstein is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a primary care doctor at Cambridge Hospital.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

As emergency department (ED) patient volumes increase throughout the United States, are patients waiting longer to see an ED physician? We evaluated the change in wait time to see an ED physician from 1997 to 2004 for all adult ED patients, patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and patients whom triage personnel designated as needing "emergent" attention. Increases in wait times of 4.1 percent per year occurred for all patients but were especially pronounced for patients with AMI, for whom waits increased 11.2 percent per year. Blacks, Hispanics, women, and patients seen in urban EDs waited longer than other patients did. [Health Affairs 27, no. 2 (2008): w84-w95 (published online 15 January 2008; 10.1377/hlthaff.27.2.w84)]

Key Words: Access To Care, Consumer Issues, Hospitals, Safety-Net Systems

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