Why is this measure important?

Patients sometimes need more care than the Emergency Department can give. These patients are admitted to the hospital as inpatients and moved to a different unit for inpatient care. Reducing the time patients spend in the Emergency Department before moving to an inpatient bed is more comfortable for patients and can help provide faster access to care. 

What does this measure show?

This measure shows the median number of minutes patients spend in the emergency department between the time the doctor decides to admit the patient and the and the time the patient leaves the emergency department for an inpatient bed.

Definition of median: This is the half-way point in the data. One-half of patients spent less than this time, and one-half spent longer. 

For this measure, a lower number is better.