Baltimore’s Emergency Medical Services says offload times at hospitals are causing a pain for the system and for patients.

Offload times are the length between when an ambulance arrives at a hospital and when that patient begins getting care within the emergency department.

James Matz, Baltimore’s assistant deputy of emergency medical services, told the City Council Public Safety Committee this week that 90% of the time those offloads were taking about 50 minutes.

“Year over year, it’s been averaging roughly about 50 minutes,” he said. “That's 50 minutes of our time, of our people backed up in those hallways until we can get them out on the street.”

Maryland has some of the worst offload times in the country. The national standard is between 20 and 30 minutes.

Part of the issue is overcrowding in emergency rooms and that Maryland also has the worst emergency room wait times in the nation. That means the time between a person coming into the emergency room and getting admitted to the hospital.

Matz said the city is looking into options to reduce offload times, especially considering EMTs often have to stay with patients while they are waiting for care.

Some jurisdictions around the country have started imposing fines on hospitals for keeping EMTs for longer periods. States like California codified how quickly hospitals must attend to patients in law.