Clocking In At The ER: Florida Ranks 37th For Wait Times As Mental Health Delays Mount

Patients visiting emergency departments in Florida spend an average of 2 hours and 44 minutes before being discharged or admitted, placing the state 37th nationwide for total visit length, according to an analysis of federal hospital data released by review platform FindEMR.

The nationwide study examined records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Provider Data Catalog, evaluating 137 million emergency room visits across 4,017 hospitals between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.

Across the 174 reporting hospitals in Florida, the typical hospital stay sat at 153 minutes, with individual facility medians ranging from 99 minutes to 274 minutes.

The data reveals a wider gap for psychiatric emergencies. Floridians seeking emergency care for a mental health crisis averaged 4 hours and 27 minutes—1 hour and 43 minutes longer than general emergency patients at the same facilities. In addition, about 1.1% of patients entering Florida emergency rooms left before receiving medical attention.

Overall emergency stays for discharged patients in Florida have risen slightly over the past several years, increasing by eight minutes from a 2019 baseline of 153 minutes to 161 minutes.

Even so, Florida recorded faster average visits than its bordering neighbors; Georgia averaged 3 hours and 26 minutes (ranking 11th longest), while Alabama averaged 3 hours and 3 minutes (23rd longest).

Visit lengths varied across Florida’s 162 fully reporting facilities. Gulf Coast Medical Center Lee Health in Fort Myers recorded the state’s longest median visit at 4 hours and 34 minutes.

It was followed by UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville at 4 hours and 1 minute, Baptist Hospital of Miami at 3 hours and 56 minutes, Homestead Hospital at 3 hours and 55 minutes, and Tampa General Hospital at 3 hours and 54 minutes.

Conversely, Lake Butler Hospital recorded the shortest median visit time in Florida, at 1 hour and 39 minutes. Other facilities with the lowest median times included HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital in Saint Petersburg and HCA Florida North Florida Hospital in Gainesville, both at 1 hour and 41 minutes, HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital at 1 hour and 42 minutes, and St. Lucie Medical Center in Port Saint Lucie at 1 hour and 44 minutes.

Nationally, Maryland posted the longest average emergency room duration at 4 hours and 17 minutes, with mental health visits averaging 8 hours and 18 minutes. South Dakota recorded the shortest overall average visit at 2 hours and 17 minutes.

“While many of the states’ average wait times compared to others may come as a surprise to some, it’s more shocking to see the gap between those patients in need of mental health support, and those in the waiting room generally,” a FindEMR spokesperson said regarding the findings. “To see some states have a near-exact average for these patient groups, and some to have a gap of hours, is seriously concerning, and it shows that some states aren’t prioritizing those in a mental health crisis at the same rate as everyone else, or that they just don’t have the resources to do so.”