Door-to-Provider Time
Door-to-provider time is the elapsed time from a patient's arrival at the emergency department to first contact with a treating provider, a primary ED throughput metric with a national benchmark target of less than 30 minutes.
What is Door-to-Provider Time?
Door-to-provider time begins at patient registration (or triage in split-flow models) and ends at documented first provider contact with a physician, NP, or PA — captured in the ED information system. CMS publicly reports this metric as part of Timely and Effective Care measures on the Care Compare website. The national 50th percentile sits around 24 minutes, while top-performing EDs achieve less than 15 minutes. Operational levers include split-flow triage (immediately bedding low-acuity patients rather than triaging them first), physician-in-triage models (placing a provider at the triage desk during peak hours), fast track programs for ESI Level 4–5 patients, and team triage protocols. The statistical relationship between door-to-provider time and LWBS is well-documented: each 10-minute increase in door-to-provider time raises the LWBS rate by 0.2–0.4 percentage points. Conversely, reducing door-to-provider time by 15 minutes typically recovers 0.5–1% of LWBS patients — representing $500–$1,500 each in recovered ED revenue.
Why It Matters for Healthcare Analytics
Door-to-provider time is publicly reported on CMS Care Compare, making it a reputational metric as well as an operational one. It correlates directly with LWBS rate, ED length of stay, patient satisfaction scores, and downstream admission rates. Identifying whether delays are concentrated during specific shifts, days of week, or ESI acuity levels allows targeted intervention rather than blanket process changes.
How Vizier Tracks Door-to-Provider Time
Upload your ED timestamp data, then ask "When during the week are our door-to-provider times exceeding 30 minutes, and what is the corresponding LWBS impact?" — Vizier correlates arrival-to-provider timestamps with LWBS rates by hour and shift, quantifying the revenue recovery opportunity from throughput improvements.