Bucking the National Trend, Average ED Wait Times at CEP America Hospitals Continue to Shrink Across the Country.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- In a world of negative ER news, where the average wait time for hospital emergency room patients has grown over the past decade from about 38 minutes to almost an hour, CEP America has proven to be a real success story. Wait times at its partnership EDs have decreased by an average of more than 20% since 2002.

What accounts for these industry-changing results? CEP brings an unmatched physician management knowledgebase and support structure that improves medical director leadership and the performance of the emergency physicians at each client hospital.

As a leading physician partnership working with hospital EDs across the country, CEP has created a better patient experience at its approximately 70 emergency department sites.

Rapid Medical Evaluation[R] continues to decrease wait time, increase patient satisfaction

CEP's innovative Rapid Medical Evaluation (RME) program has established the organization's reputation as the nationally-recognized leader in improving hospital emergency department patient flow.

This "provider at triage" process is based upon demand and resource availability and ensures that treatment is provided quickly, resulting in a positive and compassionate patient experience. RME enables shorter wait times, decreased hospital and physician risk, improved ED nurse retention, increased team spirit and greater overall patient satisfaction.

Using innovation and management resources to achieve positive results

According to Wesley A. Curry, M.D., FACEP and President of CEP America, "Our success is based upon dedicated physician and nurse leaders collaborating with engaged and committed hospital administrations to create high-performance emergency departments. The results culminate in shorter wait times, higher quality care, and a positive patient experience. Over one million hours of pain and suffering have been saved for our patients in the past 12 months."

Dr. Curry also states that the positive results have been sustainable: "Our outcomes continue to be reproducible", he says, "Regardless of patient volume, physical building limitations, demographics or varied hospital systems."

The proof is in the results

A few examples of how RME implementation at various CEP hospitals has affected patient care include Mercy Medical Center in Redding, CA, where the ED's Time to Provider has gone from 43 minutes to 16; Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, CA, which averages 120,000 patient visits per year with a wait time of only 24 minutes; DeKalb Emergency Physicians in Metro Atlanta, with a 25% decrease in patients Leaving Without Being Seen (LWBS), while experiencing almost a 5% increase in patient volume; And Portland, Oregon's Adventist Medical Center, whose Time to Provider is down to 30 minutes.

For further information on CEP America and its successful Rapid Medical Evaluation program please contact: Chris Hannan, 510-350-2679, [e-mail].

Founded in 1975, CEP America is the national partnership practice model of California Emergency Physicians (CEP) Medical Group. They are a premier provider of physician staffing, management, and consulting services for nearly 70 Emergency Department and Ambulatory Care Practices in Arizona, California, Georgia, and Oregon. For more information visit www.cepamerica.com.