Report offers tips to reduce ED boarding

Emergency department boarding requires solutions beyond the ED walls, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report. Solutions could include using regional health data systems to share information about bed availability within a geographic region and aligning payment and incentive policies to reduce boarding, minimizing any potential unintended consequences of payment changes. The report suggests convening stakeholders from across the health care system and state and federal partners to address ED boarding comprehensively. The group should identify several “high-impact policy and practice levers to reduce ED boarding.” The report resulted from an AHRQ Summit to Address Emergency Department Boarding in October 2024; AHRQ convened the meeting at the behest of 44 members of Congress. (AHRQ News Now article, 3/25/25)