OBJECTIVES:

Extended emergency department (ED) wait time may affect the quality of care. This study evaluates the association between race/ethnicity and ED wait times in the United States.

METHODS :

We obtained data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey (NHAMCS) which collects data on ED visits throughout the United States. We examined data for patients of all ages who visited the ED during the 4-year period of 2013-2016. We excluded all visits with missing wait times. Multivariable linear regression was employed to assess the relationship between race and wait time while controlling for age, sex, region, payer type, pain scale, and chronic conditions.

RESULTS:

Of 73,868 visits, the mean age of the ED patients was 37 years, (SE 0.51); 55% (SE 0.35) were female and 59% (SE 1.49) were non-Hispanic white. Thirty-one% of all ED visits were covered by Medicaid. The average wait times for all ED visits was 40 minutes (SE 1.56). Both adjusted and unadjusted analysis found that Hispanic ED patients had longer wait times compared with non-Hispanic whites (6.06 minutes, SE 1.89). Females ED patients also experienced longer wait times compared with male ED patients (1.58 minutes, SE 0.63).

CONCLUSIONS :

In a nationally representative sample of hospital ED visits, differences in wait times were observed between different racial/ethnic groups.