CLEVELAND — Imagine sitting there, suffering in pain, and waiting to see a doctor. It’s happening in emergency rooms across Northeast Ohio. We’ve heard your complaints, so the News 5 Investigators dug through the data to find the worst ER wait times in our area.
Gretchen Gibson, 75, from Akron, went to bed one night in July not feeling great. By the time morning arrived, the pain had worsened.
“It was like a throbbing, constant pain,” said Gretchen.
Her husband, Jeff, thought it might be her appendix. So, they went to the emergency room at Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
THE WAIT WAS PAINFUL
They said that after sitting in the waiting room for an hour and a half, Jeff returned to the front desk.
“She’s in pain. Nobody’s coming out to see her. I said, 'What are we supposed to do?'” Jeff said.
He said they waited another 30 minutes, and he went back to the desk.
“What happens if her appendix bursts while she’s out here?” he asked at the time.
Cleveland Clinic’s own website says time is of the essence.
“Appendix pain is always an emergency,” but a ruptured appendix spreads bacteria, which “can lead to life-threatening complications.”
The Gibsons said the only good news was from Gretchen’s CT scan.
“The results showed that the appendix was very swollen,” she told us. “But still intact.”
However, Gretchen was still suffering.
“Between throwing up and the shakes, and I was a little concerned that I was going to go into shock because the pain was so bad,” Gretchen said.
After eight hours of waiting, she said she finally went back for her surgery. Jeff said afterwards, the doctor told them the appendix had ruptured before they could operate.
“The doctor’s exact words, ‘Once we were in, it looked like a bomb had exploded,’” said Jeff.
NORTHEAST OHIO HOSPITALS WITH LONGEST WAIT TIMES
If it seems like we’re beating up on Akron General, we’re not. In fact, after sifting through recent data on ER wait times, at 2 hours 37 minutes, Akron General doesn’t even crack the top ten for the longest ER wait times.
We examined 40 hospitals in counties throughout northeast Ohio. We gathered data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that focuses on “timely and effective care,” measuring the average time from check-in to leaving the ER.
Look at the graph below to see the average wait times at local hospitals:
The Cleveland Clinic has three emergency rooms in the top 5 for longest wait times, including Mercy Medical Center in Canton, which holds the number one spot with an average wait time of 256 minutes. That’s 4 hours 16 minutes.
University Hospitals has six of the top ten ERs with the longest wait times. Its longest is at Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood, at four hours. It ranks second on our list.
CLINIC, UH, SUMMA WOULD NOT GO ON CAMERA
Neither UH nor the Cleveland Clinic would answer our questions on camera. UH wrote that it’s “…seen a surge in demand for emergency services dating back to the pandemic” and it’s “proud” of the care it provides.
Summa Health said it would get back to us, but never did.
Cleveland Clinic cited “increased demand” and its ER departments “…sometimes experience longer-than-expected wait times.”
The data shows four of the top 10 are Cleveland Clinic ERs.
Thankfully, Gretchen has recovered since she visited the Cleveland Clinic ER. Now, the Gibsons would like to picture a brighter future for people heading to the ER.
“I feel for the other patients,” said Gretchen. “I’ve gotten stories from other people since this, and it’s the same story.”
“My hope is that the Cleveland Clinic or any other hospital facility that sees this (story) realizes there’s a problem,” Jeff told us. “And steps forward and says we got to fix this problem. This isn’t right.”
So what can be done? Tomorrow, you’ll hear from a national expert with answers to that question, and she’ll explain several reasons why longer wait times are happening. Additionally, we’ll inform you about the top five hospitals that have added the most minutes to their emergency room wait times since the COVID-19 pandemic.
WRITTEN RESPONSES
While the hospital systems wouldn't go on camera, we did get written responses from the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.
Cleveland Clinic’s Statement:
“Healthcare is facing an increased demand for services. Like many health systems nationwide, Cleveland Clinic’s Emergency Departments sometimes experience longer-than-expected wait times. Those wait times can be impacted by many factors, including patient volumes, the complexity of cases, and the availability of inpatient beds.
We are continuously looking at solutions to maintain the highest quality care while decreasing wait times. This includes:We remain committed to meeting the needs of patients in the communities we serve and ensuring patients receive timely care.”
- Offering patients a variety of ways to receive care [my.clevelandclinic.org], such as urgent, express or emergency care, depending on the severity of symptoms.
- Utilizing remote providers to start assessing and moving patients through the care plan more quickly.
- Using a more efficient processing system that divides patients into different levels of care upon arrival, to get patients to the type of services they need more quickly.
University Hospitals Statement:
“University Hospitals operates a regional network of state-designated trauma centers to meet the needs of patients in Northeast Ohio. We’ve seen a surge in demand for emergency services dating back to the pandemic. Our dedicated doctors, nurses and other staff work around the clock to deliver life-saving care as rapidly as possible. All emergency visits are triaged, so the most urgent cases always go to the front of the line. We work with our EMS, and fire department partners to care for their patients and get them back into service as quickly as possible. We have also opened dozens of urgent cares around the region because not every incident needs to go to the emergency room. We are proud of the compassionate, life-saving care we provide 365 days a year.
UH’s regional trauma network includes seven Level 3 Trauma Centers: UH Elyria, Geauga, Lake West, St. John, Parma and Portage medical centers, as well as Southwest General Health Center. UH Cleveland Medical Center and UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital are designated Level 1 Regional Trauma Centers. UH Rainbow is Cleveland's only Level I trauma center for children and adolescents and has been a continuously verified Level 1 pediatric trauma center by the ACS for 25 years.”
