Media Center

August 19, 2009

Hudson Valley Hospital Center’s “No-Wait” Emergency Department Celebrates 4 Years of Success  

Cortlandt Manor, NY….  Patients spend an average of 4 hours and 48 minutes in New York Emergency Departments (ED) according to a recent Press Ganey report making New York’s ED waits among the longest in the nation. That’s not the case at Hudson Valley Hospital Center (HVHC), where the average time for discharge is nearly two hours sooner at approximately 3 hours. The Hospital credits its revolutionary “No-Wait” ED for getting patients in and out of the Emergency Department as fast as possible.  Most patients who walk into HVHC’s Emergency Department are escorted right into registration, then move into triage, without ever spending time in the waiting room.   

The average time to be evaluated by a medical practitioner dropped by 47% the month after HVHC instituted the “No-Wait” concept in the summer of 2005. Since then, the average arrival to first provider time has dropped even further by 13% to less than 30 minutes, while the ED volume has grown by another 18%. The Hospital is on track to see a record number of 36,000 ED visits this year, up from 34,300 visits in 2008.  “I think the word is out there now,” said Dr. Ron Nutovits, Chairman of Emergency Medicine, Hudson Valley Hospital Center.  “Patients and their families know to expect and receive the highest quality emergency care in an expeditious and caring manner.”

“It just made sense to us,” said John C. Federspiel, President, Hudson Valley Hospital Center. “We reorganized every segment of care inside the Emergency Room and the way it interacted with all the clinical and non-clinical support services throughout the hospital. It was a lot of work but worth it.” Patients clearly approve of the no-wait concept, Press Ganey rankings consistently put HVHC’s ED in the 90th percentile and higher for patient satisfaction.

Dr. Nutovits added “Our Emergency Department is led and staffed by the highest caliber of Emergency medicine board certified physicians as well as Magnet status emergency trained registered nurses. Our staff constantly updates and educates our patients regarding their testing, results and treatment options. That kind of care, compassion and communication is what keeps our great patient satisfactions scores so high.”

The scores are even more impressive because the Hospital is undergoing a major renovation and expansion that will double the size of its Emergency Department and will add a specialized pediatric treatment room, family grieving room and EMS office for volunteer ambulance squads. The new ED will open in 2010 as part of the larger $100-million Hospital wide expansion project.