A 10-minute wait to see a health care professional at the St. Joseph Medical Center Emergency Room Hold on Now theres only a three-minute wait.

Thats the news updated every 15 minutes on the medical centers website and available as an application on your phone.

With routine five- and six-hour waits in some ERs around the state, this is amazing.

Vivienne Stearns Elliott, media relations officer for St. Josephs, says, Weve seen greater patient satisfaction. We also hear, I drove here from Bel Air or the I-83 corridor because of the wait time.

People do seem to respond to the lure of a minimal wait time when they have just broken an arm or had some other affliction that needs immediate attention but does not require an ambulance response.

Across the country from San Jose, Calif., to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to right here at St. Josephs in Towson hospitals are working to reduce the time a patient has to wait to be seen in the emergency room.

They are also hyping their success through electronic billboards, TV, radio and newspaper advertisements and phone apps.

Whats going on? Is it something beyond wait times?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a report Monday showing that growth in health care spending in the United States experienced historically low rates in 2009 and 2010. The reports summary highlights the effects of health care reform in reducing costs and, therefore, the need to spend. It also notes that hospital spending by private health insurance companies is greatly reduced.

The CMS recognizes that something else is happening, too. As reported in the January issue of the journal Health Affairs, CMS economist Anne Martin says, Medical goods and services are generally viewed as necessities, but the recession led consumers to be a lot more cautious about using them. High unemployment, loss of private health insurance, lower household income and increased costs to the consumer are cited.

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