Rationing by Waiting

They’ve improved. From one in four patients giving up and leaving before treatment, they are now down to one in seven. We have previously reported on conditions at Dallas County’s Parkland Hospital here, here, here and here. This is from an article in the Dallas Morning News:

Parkland determined that its sickest ER patients last year waited an average of 2.7 hours to see a doctor and an additional 10.7 hours being treated or waiting for a hospital bed. Patients who were not as sick waited an average of 5.6 hours for care and an additional 4.8 hours being treated and discharged.

Last month, Parkland said, 14 percent of ER patients left without seeing a physician, compared with the 24 percent who walked away in July. “[The new system] already has made a significant impact on patients,” said Dr. Ron Anderson, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer.

Comments (5)

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  1. Tom H. says:

    Absolutely amazing. It’s like we’re somehow not even living on the same planet.

  2. Joe S. says:

    Let’s see, I get 13.4 hours of waiting for the sickest patients and 10.4 hours for the not as sick.

    And since those are the averages, I suppose that half the patients waited even longer.

  3. Stephen C. says:

    Just remember, this is where Medicaid patients in Dallas go for their health care. If Obama and Stark and Waxman, etc., get their way, this is where everyone in Dallas will be going.

  4. Vicki says:

    Is Ron Annderson serious? Or was that a joke?