Two New York officials issued a report this week criticizing the care delivered in NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center's emergency department, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The report, released by New York Sen. Adriano Espaillat and New York City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, said the ER is analogous to "a tale of two hospitals" in that patients receive different care depending on their insurance status.
"The services that they offer to the rich are top-quality services. The services that they offer to the poor are third-world services," Sen. Espaillat said in Spanish at a news conference yesterday, according to the WSJ.
The report cites an average ER wait time of 729 minutes and the finding that roughly 5 percent of patients leave the ER before receiving treatment. Those rates are more than double national averages and higher than averages in New York state.
Release of the report follows a December 2014 public hearing that focused on long ER wait times and patient privacy concerns due to overcrowding in the ER. The officials recommended New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center increase staffing at the hospital and build more urgent care facilities throughout Upper Manhattan to improve access.
In the WSJ report, a NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center spokesperson said a $100 million ED is scheduled to open in 2017, which will double the size and capacity of the hospital's current ED.