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National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care
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Emergency Department
AHRQ's resources on emergency departments (EDs) include research studies, data and analytics, and tools designed to improve patient safety and the delivery of care. Topics explored include ED boarding and crowding, infection prevention, and diagnostic safety.
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.
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.
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:
- 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
- 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
Special Emphasis Notice
AHRQ has a strong and continued interest in receiving health services research grant applications for addressing Emergency Department boarding and hospital crowding. Access the Special Emphasis Notice.
AHRQ Summit to Address Emergency Department Boarding
In October 2024, AHRQ convened a summit to engage public and private partners to identify actionable hospital- and health system-level solutions to systematically address ED boarding. Watch the videos of the summit:
Technical Report: AHRQ Summit To Address Emergency Department Boarding (PDF, 1 MB)
