Long ER wait times a growing concern in Sacramento County
SACRAMENTO — There's growing concern over how long patients wait to be seen in Sacramento-area hospital emergency rooms.
Sacramento County has some of the lengthiest emergency room wait times nationwide.
"It is a clear and present danger to our community," said Dr. Greg Kann with the Sacramento County EMS Agency.
It's known as "wall time," and it's the minutes - and sometimes hours - that someone taken to the hospital by ambulance waits to be seen by emergency room staff.
"The concern is when those ambulances are tied up on hospital walls, they're not available when the community needs them," said Battalion Chief Parker Wilbourn with Sacramento Metro Fire.
Last December, the average patient transfer time in Sacramento County was an hour and 25 minutes – when the national average was just 28 minutes, and some waits have been much longer.
"We've had times when our ambulances are sitting on the wall for upwards of 8 to 12 hours," Wilbourn said.
"It hasn't gotten any better," said Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna."It's gotten worse."
New state regulations go into effect next year that require the patient transfer time to be no longer than 30 minutes.
"There's no one silver bullet that's going to take this out," Dr. Kann said. "We have to attack this thing with an all-in approach."
Dr. Kann said too many people call 911 when it's not a real medical emergency.
"We live in a moment where people want their health care now," he said.
To reduce unnecessary ER visits, some fire departments are now connecting patients with a doctor over iPad video calls.
Metro Fire has a mobile health team that can provide basic care to a patient in the field. During busy times, they also station a paramedic in the ER.
"One paramedic that's already at the hospital can then assume care of up to four total patients," Wilbourn said.
Beginning next year, a new state law will allow ambulance crews to take people directly to a mental health facility or sobering center. But medical professionals say, ultimately, more community-based healthcare is needed.
"We are nowhere near what we need to do or where we need to be in order to provide the people who live in this county with care that they deserve," Dr. Kann said.
Metro Fire's mobile health team has treated and released 85% of the patients they've seen in the field. Sacramento County is now looking for more funding to expand the program.
