How long is the ER wait in Alaska?

Patients who are treated and sent home spend a median of 2 hours 16 minutes in emergency departments in Alaska, from arrival to leaving (Oct 2024 to Sep 2025). That is the whole visit, not the wait to see a doctor, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services does not publish by state.

What is the average ER wait time in Alaska compared with the U.S.?

The median visit in Alaska is 136 minutes and the U.S. median is 162 minutes, so visits in Alaska are 26 min shorter. CMS publishes a median, the midpoint, rather than an average.

Does Alaska have long emergency room waits?

Alaska has the 16th shortest emergency department visits of the 51 places ranked: the states and the District of Columbia. Its median visit is 2 hr 16 min; the U.S. median is 2 hr 42 min.

How many patients leave the ER without being seen in Alaska?

About 1% of patients left emergency departments in Alaska before being seen (Jan 2024 to Dec 2024). The U.S. figure is 2%.

Are ER waits longer at busy hospitals in Alaska?

At high volume emergency departments in Alaska the median visit is 2 hr 32 min, against 2 hr 16 min across all of the state's hospitals.

Typical ER Wait Time in Alaska

On this page

The answer
Compared with other states
By kind of visit
By how busy the hospital is
Leaving before being seen
What this figure is
Common questions
Source

A typical emergency room visit in Alaska takes 2 hours 16 minutes from arrival to going home. That is 26 min shorter than the U.S. median of 2 hr 42 min. Half of visits are shorter and half are longer. The figure covers Oct 2024 to Sep 2025, the latest published.

This is the length of the whole visit for patients who were treated and sent home: waiting, tests, treatment and discharge together. It is not the wait until a doctor sees you, which is not published by state.

Median ER visit

2 hr 16 min

136 minutes, Oct 2024 to Sep 2025

Against the U.S.

26 min shorter

−16.0%U.S. 2 hr 42 min

Rank among states

16th shortest

of 51, counting the District of Columbia

How Alaska compares with other states

Each tick is the median emergency room visit in one state. The highlighted band holds the middle half of states.

How long different kinds of visit take

The headline figure counts patients who went home. Visits that end another way run longer.

All patients

2 hr 23 min

−14.9%U.S. 2 hr 48 min

Every visit, including mental health patients and patients transferred elsewhere.

Mental health visits

3 hr 18 min

−23.0%U.S. 4 hr 17 min

Patients seen for psychiatric or mental health care.

Before a transfer

5 hr 4 min

+5.9%U.S. 4 hr 47 min

Time in the emergency department before being moved to another facility.

By how busy the hospital is

CMS groups hospitals by how many emergency patients they see in a year. A group with no hospitals in Alaska has no figure.

Hospital group	Alaska	U.S.
Low volume	2 hr 12 min	2 hr 3 min
Medium volume	2 hr 20 min	2 hr 45 min
High volume	2 hr 32 min	3 hr 22 min

Patients who left before being seen

Alaska

of emergency patients, Jan 2024 to Dec 2024

United States

of emergency patients, Jan 2024 to Dec 2024

CMS publishes this share as a whole number, so small differences between states do not show.

What this figure is

Hospitals report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services how long patients spend in their emergency departments. The figure here is CMS measure OP-18b: the median time from arrival to departure for patients who were sent home. Patients who were admitted, transferred to another facility, or seen for psychiatric or mental health care are left out of it.

It is a statewide figure over twelve months. A single hospital, a busy evening or a serious case can be far from it, and it says nothing about any one emergency room tonight. In an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Common questions

How long is the ER wait in Alaska?: Patients who are treated and sent home spend a median of 2 hours 16 minutes in emergency departments in Alaska, from arrival to leaving (Oct 2024 to Sep 2025). That is the whole visit, not the wait to see a doctor, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services does not publish by state.
What is the average ER wait time in Alaska compared with the U.S.?: The median visit in Alaska is 136 minutes and the U.S. median is 162 minutes, so visits in Alaska are 26 min shorter. CMS publishes a median, the midpoint, rather than an average.
Does Alaska have long emergency room waits?: Alaska has the 16th shortest emergency department visits of the 51 places ranked: the states and the District of Columbia. Its median visit is 2 hr 16 min; the U.S. median is 2 hr 42 min.
How many patients leave the ER without being seen in Alaska?: About 1% of patients left emergency departments in Alaska before being seen (Jan 2024 to Dec 2024). The U.S. figure is 2%.
Are ER waits longer at busy hospitals in Alaska?: At high volume emergency departments in Alaska the median visit is 2 hr 32 min, against 2 hr 16 min across all of the state's hospitals.

Source

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Timely and Effective Care, emergency department measures

State and national results for Oct 2024 to Sep 2025. Retrieved on October 6, 2026.

The CMS data file

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Timely and Effective Care

ER wait times in other states

Median visit. The percentage compares each state with the U.S.