Some Hudson Valley ER wait times spiked 20% last year. Is your local hospital on our list?

David Robinson, New York State Team
·4 min read
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As lawmakers and hospitals battled over state health care funding, some patients in the Hudson Valley area faced some of the longest emergency room wait times in New York, federal data show.

While state budget debates prioritized closing Medicaid funding gaps to shore up safety-net hospitals, wait times at most emergency rooms in the Hudson Valley continued to rise, reaching an average of about 200 minutes between July 2022 and July 2023, the most recent federal data show. Five hospitals had ER wait times that spiked between 15% to 20% longer than the prior year.

Vassar Brothers Medical Center had the longest ER wait times in the Hudson Valley from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, with an average wait of 314 minutes.
Vassar Brothers Medical Center had the longest ER wait times in the Hudson Valley from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, with an average wait of 314 minutes.

In other words, the Hudson Valley's health system ranked among the worst in the country for delivering timely emergency room care last year, with patients on average waiting nearly 40 minutes longer than the national average, federal data show.

Where are ER wait times getting longer in the Hudson Valley?

Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown had the second-longest ER wait times in the Hudson Valley, with an average of 254 minutes between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, which was up 16% from the prior year.
Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown had the second-longest ER wait times in the Hudson Valley, with an average of 254 minutes between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, which was up 16% from the prior year.

What follows is the average time patients spent in emergency rooms before leaving the visit across the Finger Lakes from summer 2022 to summer 2023. It represents minutes and the lower the number, the shorter the wait. The percentage change is a comparison to the prior year.

  • Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis: 173, up nearly 9%

  • Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson: 194, a 4% decrease

  • Ellenville Regional Hospital: 70, up 13%

  • Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown: 254, a 16% spike

  • Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern: 244, an 8% increase

  • HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston: 209, a 12% jump

  • Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor: 194, up 7%

  • Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital: 180, down 4%

  • Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital: 179, up 18%

  • Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck: 167, a 3% decrease

  • Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco: 224, a 20% spike

  • Nyack Hospital: 228, up nearly 12%

  • Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow: 202, up about 3%

  • Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel: 164, a 20% decrease

  • St. Anthony’s Hospital in Warwick: 164, up nearly 9%

  • St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers: 243, a nearly 6% increase

  • St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers: 173, a 15% jump

  • St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh: 188, up 9%

  • Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie: 314, a 20% spike

  • Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla: 252, flat

  • White Plains Hospital: 166, up about 6%.

Still, the Hudson Valley fared better than some upstate communities, with Monroe County's average ER waits at a whopping 274 minutes.

Several comparable upstate metros clocked in even worse, with Albany County at the longest waits (349 minutes) and Schenectady County ranked second worst (336 minutes). Onondaga County had the third-longest waits (287 minutes).

By contrast, Rockland County had average waits of 236 minutes. Westchester County had an average wait of about 201 minutes, while Dutchess County had waits of 240 minutes and Orange County waits averaged 167 minutes.

The statewide average ER wait was about 204 minutes, well above the 161 minutes national average.

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What New York hospitals are doing to reduce ER wait times

Still, some health systems have taken steps to boost ER staffing ratios and expand ER capacity.

Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital, for example, is in the midst of a $557 million construction project, including tripling the size of its ER. The project expects to finish by 2027, with newly constructed ER space opening in 2026. White Plains Hospital and Northern Westchester Hospital this year also began projects that are expected to expand services at their respective emergency rooms.

Other hospitals statewide are working with state officials to address the fact children and older adults living with medically complex or behavioral health conditions experienced the most frequent and longest hospital discharge delays.

Further, nursing home backlogs and insufficient community care options fueled many of the discharge delays. Other factors driving ER wait times up included insurance coverage gaps, affordability issues and governmental approval lags, hospital groups noted.

Meanwhile, the lack of routine care for poor and low-income New Yorkers — and those with lower educational attainment and other societal disadvantages, such as primary care deserts — was driving preventable emergency room visits, federal studies show.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Some Hudson Valley NY hospitals have patients waiting longer in the ER