To quantify the variation in emergency department (ED) wait times by patient race/ethnicity and payment source, and to divide the overall association into between‐ and within‐hospital components.
2005 and 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys.
Linear regression was used to analyze the independent associations between race/ethnicity, payment source, and ED wait times in a pooled cross‐sectional design. A hybrid fixed effects specification was used to measure the between‐ and within‐hospital components.
Data were limited to children under 16 years presenting at EDs.
Unadjusted and adjusted ED wait times were significantly longer for non‐Hispanic black and Hispanic children than for non‐Hispanic white children. Children in EDs with higher shares of non‐Hispanic black and Hispanic children waited longer. Moreover, Hispanic children waited 10.4 percent longer than non‐Hispanic white children when treated at the same hospital. ED wait times for children did not vary significantly by payment source.
There are sizable racial/ethnic differences in children's ED wait times that can be attributed to both the racial/ethnic mix of children in EDs and to differential treatment by race/ethnicity inside the ED.
