Wait Times Are Out of Hand at Some Hospital ED’s. Patients Need to Know Your UC Is an Alternative

It’s not news that patients are very likely to wait longer to see a provider in a hospital emergency room than in an urgent care center. That’s why UC continues to thrive. It may come as a surprise to learn exactly how long patients wait in some EDs, though. According to an article published by Becker’s Hospital Review, during a recent survey period the average ED wait time was nearly 8 hours (476 minutes) at the Ohio State University State Health System in Columbus. Things weren’t much more promising for patients at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC, where emergency patients could expect to wait 402 minutes, or Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta (395 minutes), Loma Linda (CA) University Medical Center (386 minutes), or Harris Health System in Houston (285 minutes). If you don’t know the average wait time in your urgent care center, you should—and that figure should be prominent on your website and social media. And if you find that your own wait time is nothing to brag about, read Smoothing Ebb-and-Flow for Greater Staff Efficiency and Shorter Wait Times in Urgent Care in the JUCM archive to learn how you may be able to improve.