D.C. ER visits drag on
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D.C. leads the country when it comes to how long a visit to the emergency department takes.
- Patients are spending a median of more than 5 hours in the ED, according to federal data.
Why it matters: Forthcoming insurance eligibility and cost changes could lead people to put off care until their health reaches a crisis point, sending even more patients to an emergency department.
By the numbers: The median D.C. emergency department visit lasted 303 minutes during the year ending Sept. 30, 2025, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- The that's nearly twice the nationwide median (162 minutes).
Median visit lengths increased in 24 states and D.C. compared with the prior 12-month period, per Axios' analysis of the CMS data.
The big picture: At-large Council Member Christina Henderson has pointed to limited access to urgent and preventive care as a factor putting pressure on the city's emergency rooms.
- There's evidence of that at Cedar Hill, D.C.'s newest hospital: About 80% of the more than 45,000 emergency room visits in its first year were for low-acuity conditions that the hospital said could've been handled at an urgent care.
- Staffing has also been a challenge: Cedar Hill had struggled to hire enough nurses to staff all of its inpatient beds.
- Henderson argues the city needs more routine health monitoring and education.
Another bottleneck: Hospitals can struggle to move patients out of emergency departments when there aren't inpatient beds available.
- Nearly a quarter of people requiring inpatient care nationwide have to wait at least four hours for a bed to open up, according to a study published last week in JAMA.
What we're watching: GWU Hospital is planning to open a $29.3 million emergency room in Ivy City by 2029.