With emergency departments overflowing, gridlocked, and overwhelmed with patients waiting for the care they need and deserve, the federal government must address the nation’s growing public health crisis of patient “boarding,” according to U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and a bipartisan contingent of 43 other members.
Boarding takes place when a patient cannot be sent home from the emergency department or transferred to another facility for further treatment because there are no available beds, so they must wait, or be “boarded” in the emergency department for an indeterminate amount of time, according to a May 30 letter the lawmakers sent to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Specifically, they urged HHS to take swift action “to address the ever-growing strain on our nation’s health care safety net by convening a task force of key stakeholders from throughout the healthcare system to identify both immediate and long-term solutions to this critical issue,” according to their letter.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) joined Rep. Fitzpatrick in leading the 42 other members in sending the letter to Secretary Becerra, pointing out that boarding places a strain on already-stressed emergency departments (ED).
“And on top of this, EMS crews bringing emergency patients in via ambulance are often left waiting what can be hours to be able to safely hand over their patient to hospital ED staff, keeping them from being able to respond to new calls for help in the community,” wrote Rep. Fitzpatrick and his colleagues. “Even with the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic now behind us, hospital emergency departments all over the country are at, or even past, the breaking point, with no relief in sight.”
Boarding also affects patients of all kinds, regardless of their condition, age, insurance coverage, income, or geographic location, and it also disproportionately affects more vulnerable and historically disadvantaged populations, the lawmakers wrote.
“If the system is already this strained, how will emergency departments be able to cope with a sudden surge of patients from a natural disaster, mass casualty event, or another disease outbreak?” asked the members. “Our communities rely upon the safety net that our dedicated health care professionals provide, and we cannot accept these conditions as a new normal.”
Rep. Fitzpatrick and his colleagues urged Becerra to convene a task force with broad stakeholder representation as soon as possible to identify, develop, and implement both immediate and long-term solutions to the issue.