California Has Longer ER Wait Times, But Fares Better By Other Health Measures

The report from the California HealthCare Foundation found the state stood out from the national average in emergency room wait times.

Californians admitted to the hospital from the ER typically waited over five hours, almost an hour longer than the national average.

“I’m not surprised because we’ve known that it’s a very large problem in parts of California,” says Howard Backer, Director of the California Emergency Medical Services Authority.

“This is a process measure that impacts many other aspects of health care quality and patient care,” says Backer.

Backer says the problem of emergency department wait times is not uniform across the state - he says it varies by hospital and location.

But there was positive data about California health care in the report.

It suggests Californians getting long-term nursing home care were the least likely in the nation to have lost too much weight, be depressed, or have a fall with a major injury.

California adults are also slightly less likely to have chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, and arthritis.