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Variation in Emergency Department Wait Times for Children by Race/Ethnicity and Payment Source
Author(s) -
Park Christine Y.,
Lee Mary Alice,
Epstein Andrew J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
health services research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1475-6773
pISSN - 0017-9124
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2009.01020.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , emergency department , medicine , demography , ambulatory , payment , race (biology) , gerontology , psychiatry , botany , sociology , world wide web , anthropology , computer science , biology
Objective. To quantify the variation in emergency department (ED) wait times by patient race/ethnicity and payment source, and to divide the overall association into between‐ and within‐hospital components. Data Source. 2005 and 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys. Study Design. Linear regression was used to analyze the independent associations between race/ethnicity, payment source, and ED wait times in a pooled cross‐sectional design. A hybrid fixed effects specification was used to measure the between‐ and within‐hospital components. Data Extraction Methods. Data were limited to children under 16 years presenting at EDs. Principal Results. Unadjusted and adjusted ED wait times were significantly longer for non‐Hispanic black and Hispanic children than for non‐Hispanic white children. Children in EDs with higher shares of non‐Hispanic black and Hispanic children waited longer. Moreover, Hispanic children waited 10.4 percent longer than non‐Hispanic white children when treated at the same hospital. ED wait times for children did not vary significantly by payment source. Conclusions. There are sizable racial/ethnic differences in children's ED wait times that can be attributed to both the racial/ethnic mix of children in EDs and to differential treatment by race/ethnicity inside the ED.