Emergency Department

In May 2023, 44 members of Congress wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra asking him to convene a task force to identify solutions to the ED boarding crisis. That letter and Secretary Becerra's response are provided below: 

• Letter to HHS Secretary on ED Boarding (PDF, 1.2 MB) 
• HHS Secretary Response (PDF, 453 KB; Disclaimer: for accessibility issues with this document, please contact Karen Cosby at karen.cosby@ahrq.hhs.gov.) 

The AHRQ Summit to Address Emergency Department Boarding convened in October 2024 to engage public and private partners, including patients and consumers; clinicians; hospital and health system leaders; policymakers; experts in emergency medicine, behavioral health, and other medical specialties; and others to identify actionable hospital-level and health system-level solutions to address ED boarding systematically. 

• AHRQ Summit to Address Emergency Department Boarding: Technical Report (PDF, 1 MB)  

Research on ED boarding and crowding is highlighted by AHRQ's Patient Safety Network (PSNet), a national resource featuring the latest news and essential resources on patient safety.

• PSNet: Emergency Department Boarding
• PSNet: Emergency Department Crowding

The following are federal resources on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Emergency Room Rights
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Policy & Memos to States and CMS Locations (filter on EMTALA)
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Quality, Safety, & Education Portal EMTALA Training:
  • Introduction
  • Basic
  • Advanced
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services State Operations Manual Appendix V (EMTALA Interpretive Guidance) (PDF, 324 KB)
• Contemporary EMTALA Clinical Issues Involving Pregnant Patients (PDF, 246 KB)
• EMTALA Regulatory Text
• EMTALA-Related Requirements
• Office of Inspector General/Health Care Financing Administration Special Advisory Bulletin on the Patient Anti-Dumping Statute (PDF, 215 KB)

• Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review
• Distributed Cognition and the Role of Nurses in Diagnostic Safety in the Emergency Department
• Emergency department research in AHRQ's PSNet
• Infection Prevention and Control for the Emergency Medical Services and 911 Workforce
• Maximizing Safety, Value, and Patient Preferences for Treating Chest Pain
• Patient Safety Practices Focused on Sepsis Prediction and Recognition

AHRQ provides support for grantees who conduct emergency department research to better understand ED trends and develop strategies to improve care.

AHRQ develops statistical briefs, interactive visualizations and other data resources about emergency departments.

• Changes in Emergency Department Visits in the Initial Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic (April to December 2020), 29 States
• Emergency Care Data Visualizations
• Emergency Department Visits Involving Influenza and Influenza-Like Illnesses, 2016-2018
• Health-Related Social Needs Information in the Emergency Department: Clinician and Patient Perspectives on Availability and Use
• MEPS Topics: Emergency Room Visits/Use/Events and Expenditures
• Most Frequent Reasons for Emergency Department Visits, 2018
• Racial and Ethnic Differences in Emergency Department Visits Related to Substance Use Disorders, 2019
• Treat-and-Release Emergency Department Utilization and Costs for Traumatic and Nontraumatic Dental Conditions, 2019 and 2020
• Topic Area Search Results: Emergency Department Visits

• AHRQ's Quality & Patient Safety Programs by Setting: Emergency Department
• AHRQ's Safety Program for Nursing Homes: On-Time Preventable Hospital and Emergency Department Visits
• Emergency Department Prevention Quality Indicator Measures

• Connecticut Hospital Reduces Emergency Wait Time, Adverse Events Using AHRQ Tools
• Johns Hopkins Children's Center Uses AHRQ-Funded I-PASS Tool to Boost Patient Safety
• Maine Hospital Speeds Patients' Admitting Time from the Emergency Department After Using AHRQ Tools
• Tampa Hospital Uses AHRQ Tools to Reduce Emergency Department CAUTI Rates by 75 Percent