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Capital Region patients continue to spend more time in the emergency room before being discharged compared to state and national averages, but a handful of local hospitals are showing signs of improvement.

New data released last month by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shows that New York hospitals have longer discharge times compared to the national average, and patients seeking emergency care locally have to wait even longer in most cases.

It’s a trend that has persisted for years and, with few local exceptions, hasn’t shown signs of improvement or has gotten worse even as national and state averages have remained flat.

Nationally, patients spent an average of 161 minutes, or just over two and a half hours, in an emergency room before being discharged last year, according to the latest CMS data. New York patients during the same period averaged 192 minutes, or about three hours, before being sent home.

The data does not include patients that needed to be transferred to another facility or those who required hospital stays, only visits where patients were sent home after being treated.

Cadence Acquaviva, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Health, said “ensuring all patients receive high quality care is a priority for the department” and touted investments in recent years to bolster health care services, including funding to bolster emergency services, including funding secured for Glens Falls Hospital, which is part of the sprawling Albany Med Health System.

But emergency room patients at Capital Region hospitals continue to wait longer to go home than the state average by more than 90 minutes in most cases, according to the data, which shows that the times are on the rise at some hospitals.

St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany had the longest average discharge time last year of 399 minutes — more than six hours, according to the latest data. But places like Ellis Hospital in Schenectady and Albany Medical Center have shown a decline in time patients are spending in the emergency room in recent years.

Only St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam and Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville had discharge periods below the state average, at 160 and 162 minutes, respectively, according to the latest data.

Those tasked with managing emergency rooms locally say the numbers are nuanced and noted that discharge times can vary based on demand and a patient’s need. Still, there was consensus that simplifying systems and bolstering collaboration among staff are key to ensuring patients have a better experience.

“That makes a big difference in how we function and how efficient we are at making sure we are proactive at trying to head off any bottlenecks in the system and making sure the patient flow is where it needs to be,” said Margaret Haughton, the nurse manager for the emergency department at Nathan Littauer Hospital.

The latest data comes as hospitals are seeing a growing number of emergency room visits and continue to grapple with staffing shortages that, in some cases, have been the center of contract disputes between hospital administration and the state’s nurses union, which has argued more resources are needed to ensure patients are spending less time in the emergency room.

“Hospitals need to prioritize safe staffing standards and take real action to reduce the time patients wait to receive care, especially as healthcare funding cuts drive more patients into emergency rooms,” Fred Durocher, a nurse working in the emergency room at Ellis Hospital, said in a statement.

A WORSENING TREND

Hospitals in the St. Peter’s Health Partners system — which includes St. Peter’s in Albany and Samaritan Hospital in Troy — have seen the steepest increases in average discharge times, with averages at both hospitals climbing 60 minutes between 2021 and 2024, according to CMS data.

In 2021, St. Peter’s had an average time of 330 minutes, or five and a half hours. Those times increased to 399 last year. Samaritan saw its average times climb to 264 minutes, or just under four and half hours last year, up from the 204 minutes in 2021.

Robert Webster, a spokesperson for St. Peter’s Health Partners, said the hospital system is “deeply committed to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and timely emergency care.”

He noted the CMS data does not take into account different types of hospitals, patient volume and case complexity, adding that 90% of patients that visited the St. Peter’s emergency room last year presented serious or urgent conditions that required more specialty care and in many cases hospital admission.

Patient volume is also on the rise, Webster noted, with St. Peter’s hospital seeing more than 2,200 more patients between January and November of this year compared to the same period in 2024.

The hospital system, he said, has also worked to bolster staffing levels, decrease ambulance offload times and opened a new 12-bay care area while working to increase primary care coverage.

“While we acknowledge that........

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