How this works
Where the numbers come from
Every hospital paid by Medicare reports quality measures to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which publishes them on Care Compare. One of them, OP-18b, is the median time patients spend in the emergency department, from arrival to departure. It covers patients who were sent home, and leaves out psychiatric patients and patients transferred to another hospital.
We pulled OP-18b for every hospital that reported it for October 2024 to September 2025: 4,081 ERs. We added each hospital's walkout rate (CMS measure OP-22, the share of patients who left before being seen) and its yearly ER visits, then placed it on the map by ZIP code.
What the number means
It's the median, so half of patients spent longer and half spent less. It is total time in the ER, not just the time before you see a doctor. It includes tests, scans and waiting for results. It does not include patients who were admitted to the hospital, who usually spend much longer.
What it doesn't tell you
Hospitals see different patients. A small rural ER and a big trauma center are not doing the same job. A long median can mean a hospital is overloaded, or that it treats sicker people. Use this to know what to expect, not to choose where to go in an emergency.
If you're having a medical emergency, call 911. Don't comparison shop.
Who made this
Eureka builds software that runs independent medical practices, so doctors can see patients without a hospital in between. The site is free and has no ads.
