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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 May 29.
Published in final edited form as: Med Care. 2016 Mar;54(3):269–276. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000473

TABLE 1.

Wait Time Measures and Visit, Patient, and Provider Characteristics: Comparison by Patient Race/Ethnicity

Variables Overall NHW Hispanic/Latino Black Chinese Asian Indian Filipino Japanese Korean Vietnamese
N (%) 198,379 141,214 (71.2) 17,495 (8.8) 2862 (1.4) 15,566 (7.9) 10,049 (5.1) 5037 (2.5) 3651 (1.8) 1356 (0.7) 1149 (0.6)
Patient-reported wait time and rating
 Satisfaction: very good (N = 158,647) (%) 52.1 55.4 52.9* 53.7 37.7* 36.8* 44.9* 44.1* 37.1* 39.7*
 Postscheduled time at waiting area in minute (0–120) (N = 126,058) 8.4 (9.9) 8.1 (9.9) 9.2 (10.6)* 9.1 (9.7)* 8.8 (9.5)* 9.1 (9.8)* 9.7 (9.4)* 8.4 (9.0) 8.6 (8.6) 10.3 (11.8)*
EHR-based scheduled, arrived, and wait time indicators
 Arrived late (N = 117,581) (%) 14.3 12.7 17.8* 17.7* 18.2* 23.0* 16.0* 9.7* 17.7* 18.3*
 Time (postscheduled time) at waiting area (0–120) (N = 101,827) 9.2 (11.5) 9.3 (11.6) 9.3 (11.3) 9.5 (10.8) 8.9 (11.1) 9.0 (10.6) 8.9 (11.0) 9.0 (12.1) 8.2 (10.2) 9.3 (12.7)
 Led to examination room before the scheduled time (N = 102,445) (%) 16.8 16.7 17.9 16.2 16.5 15.3* 20.0* 17.9 20.2 18.6
 Long visit (scheduled for 30+ min) (%) 65.7 66.9 60.8* 65.2 65.6 60.1* 62.6* 67.2 63.2 62.1
 Visit time of the day (N = 118,137)
  Early morning (6:00–9:59) (%) 22.6 22.3 21.6* 21.0 26.0* 23.6* 21.6 24.8 23.2 21.6
  Mid-morning (10:00–11:59) (%) 28.8 29.2 28.1* 30.5 27.3 26.6 28.6 29.8 32.0* 27.3
  Early afternoon (12:00–14:59) (%) 26.5 27.1 25.7* 26.8 24.3 24.7 26.4 24.5 23.1 26.8
  Late afternoon (15:00–20:59) (%) 22.1 21.4 24.6* 21.7 22.4* 25.1* 23.4* 21.0 21.7 24.3
Other visit characteristics
 Days between visit and survey return (11–183) 29.7 (18.1) 28.9 (17.2) 31.4 (19.9)* 33.2 (22.2)* 30.1 (17.9)* 34.5 (23.0)* 32.9 (21.2)* 29.4 (17.9) 30.6 (18.1) 31.6 (20.3)*
 Primary care visit (%) 42.3 38.3 48.7* 40.6 54.4* 62.4* 51.4* 40.9 58.3* 57.3*
 Own primary care physician visit (%) 31.6 28.5 35.0* 30.2 42.1* 47.4* 39.2* 30.7 43.7* 43.2*
 No. years with the PCP 2.6 (3.5) 2.7 (3.6) 2.1 (3.0)* 3.0 (3.9) 2.6 (3.3) 2.0 (2.7)* 2.5 (3.3)* 2.8 (3.6) 1.8 (2.8)* 2.1 (3.0)*
 Preventive visit (%) 13.9 11.5 15.6* 11.3 24.1* 23.6* 17.9* 15.0* 25.1* 23.3*
 Visit for chronic condition (%) 23.8 24.9 22.2* 29.5* 19.5* 17.6* 25.0 24.5 16.2* 19.2*
 Patient-provider race/ethnicity concordant (%) 54.1 69.4 4.4* 2.3* 36.8* 22.1* 1.9* 4.7* 16.4* 2.3
 Patient-provider language concordant in non-English (%) 0.7 0.1 2.1* 4.4* 2.1* 3.2* 2.3
 Patient-provider language discordant (%) 3.9 1.4 12.7* 18.4* 8.2* 16.5* 16.5
Other patient characteristics
 Age (0–107) 53.0 (24.0) 57.4 (22.4) 42.5 (24.9)* 53.4 (20.1)* 42.7 (24.6)* 32.0 (23.0)* 45.3 (22.8)* 57.2 (21.6) 34.3 (23.7)* 39.6 (22.5)*
 Female (%) 62.8 62.3 66.6* 66.3 63.3 53.8* 70.1* 69.2* 65.5 66.8
 No. visits in the last year (0–10; top-coded) 3.9 (5.7) 4.2 (6.0) 3.6 (5.1)* 4.3 (6.0) 2.7 (3.9)* 2.9 (3.9)* 3.3 (4.8)* 3.3 (4.8)* 2.6 (3.6)* 2.6 (3.7)*
 Proportion of visits late for the appointment (0–1) (N = 153,203) 0.23 (0.22) 0.21 (0.21) 0.27 (0.22)* 0.28 (0.23)* 0.28 (0.23)* 0.33 (0.24)* 0.23 (0.21)* 0.18 (0.19)* 0.27 (0.23)* 0.28 (0.24)*
 Proportion of visits arrived >15 min before the scheduled time (0–1) (N = 153,203) 0.22 (0.21) 0.22 (0.21) 0.22 (0.21) 0.25 (0.22)* 0.19 (0.20)* 0.16(0.18)* 0.29 (0.24)* 0.25 (0.23)* 0.20 (0.22) 0.23 (0.23)

Statistically significant at *P < 0.001.

For each variable, % (for dichotomous variable) or mean (SD) (for continuous variable) is presented.

N = 198,379, unless otherwise indicated.

EHR indicates electronic health record; NHW, non-Hispanic whites; PCP, primary care provider.