ER Wait Times in New Hampshire: 26 Hospitals Compared
26 hospitals in New Hampshire report how long their emergency room patients stay. The middle value here is 148.5 minutes; national (Medicare): 162 minutes.
What this time means
Each hospital’s number is Medicare measure OP-18b: the median (middle) time from arriving at the emergency room to leaving it, for patients who were treated and went home. Half of these patients left sooner, half later. It is not the time before seeing a doctor, and it leaves out patients who were admitted to the hospital, transferred, or seen for mental health.
Medicare’s name for the measure: “Average (median) time patients spent in the emergency department before leaving from the visit, excluding patients transferred to another facility or psychiatric care/mental health patients. A lower number of minutes is better”. Patients seen October 2024 to September 2025.
Emergency rooms in New Hampshire, shortest time first
Ranked by Medicare's median time (OP-18b), shortest first; hospitals with the same time share a rank. Left without being seen: share of ER patients who left before a doctor or nurse saw them (January 2024 to December 2024; national 2%). ER volume: patients per year, as Medicare groups it.
| # | Hospital | City | Median time in the ER | Left without being seen | ER volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital | Colebrook | 85 min (1 h 25 min) | Not reported | — |
| 2 | Weeks Medical Center | Lancaster | 107 min (1 h 47 min) | Not reported | — |
| 3 | Androscoggin Valley Hospital | Berlin | 112 min (1 h 52 min)† | Not reported | — |
| 4 | Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital | Lebanon | 118 min (1 h 58 min) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 5 | Cottage Hospital | Woodsville | 120 min (2 h) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 5 | Parkland Medical Center | Derry | 120 min (2 h) | 1% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 7 | The Memorial Hospital | North Conway | 121 min (2 h 1 min) | 0% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 8 | Concord Hospital- Franklin | Franklin | 130 min (2 h 10 min) | 2% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 9 | Frisbie Memorial Hospital | Rochester | 132 min (2 h 12 min) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 9 | Portsmouth Regional Hospital | Portsmouth | 132 min (2 h 12 min) | 1% | High (40,000–59,999) |
| 11 | Monadnock Community Hospital | Peterborough | 136 min (2 h 16 min) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 11 | Speare Memorial Hospital | Plymouth | 136 min (2 h 16 min) | 0% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 13 | Littleton Regional Healthcare | Littleton | 137 min (2 h 17 min) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 14 | New London Hospital | New London | 160 min (2 h 40 min) | 1% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 15 | Valley Regional Hospital | Claremont | 163 min (2 h 43 min) | 2% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 16 | Huggins Hospital | Wolfeboro | 169 min (2 h 49 min) | 2% | Low (under 20,000) |
| 17 | Concord Hospital- Laconia | Laconia | 197 min (3 h 17 min) | 4% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 18 | St Joseph Hospital | Nashua | 202 min (3 h 22 min) | 4% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 19 | Exeter Hospital Inc | Exeter | 206 min (3 h 26 min) | 3% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 20 | Cheshire Medical Center | Keene | 214 min (3 h 34 min) | 3% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 21 | Southern NH Medical Center | Nashua | 218 min (3 h 38 min) | 5% | High (40,000–59,999) |
| 22 | Catholic Medical Center | Manchester | 221 min (3 h 41 min) | 1% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 23 | Wentworth-Douglass Hospital | Dover | 242 min (4 h 2 min) | 2% | High (40,000–59,999) |
| 24 | Concord Hospital | Concord | 243 min (4 h 3 min) | 5% | High (40,000–59,999) |
| 25 | Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital | Lebanon | 264 min (4 h 24 min) | 1% | Medium (20,000–39,999) |
| 26 | Elliot Hospital | Manchester | 291 min (4 h 51 min) | 11% | High (40,000–59,999) |
† Medicare footnote 3: the result is based on a shorter period than required.
ER wait times by city in New Hampshire
Common questions
Which ER in New Hampshire has the shortest wait?
In Medicare's data for October 2024 to September 2025, Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital had the shortest median time patients spent in the emergency room before going home: 85 minutes. This is the total time of the visit, not the time before seeing a doctor, and it is an average of past patients, not a promise for your visit.
What is the average ER wait time in New Hampshire?
The middle value of the 26 hospitals listed here is 148.5 minutes. The national figure published by Medicare is 162 minutes. Each hospital's number is the median time from arriving at the emergency room to leaving it, for patients who were treated and went home.
Should I drive to a farther ER to wait less?
No. In an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. These times are past averages; emergency rooms see the sickest patients first, and minutes lost on the road can matter more than minutes in a waiting room.
Does a shorter time mean a better emergency room?
Not by itself. Busier emergency rooms and hospitals that treat more serious cases usually have longer times, so the ER volume is shown next to each time. The time is one measure among many on each hospital’s page.
Sources and dates
- Timely and Effective Care - Hospital — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), data updated July 22, 2026, retrieved October 31, 2026. Times: patients seen October 2024 to September 2025; left without being seen: January 2024 to December 2024.
- Timely and Effective Care - National — CMS, data updated July 22, 2026 (the national figures).
Only open hospitals that list an emergency room and report this time are included. The state and city figures are the median of the hospitals listed, calculated by us from the same CMS hospital file. Wording last revised November 11, 2026. Not medical advice.