That is why the American Hospital Association (AHA) and America’s Essential Hospital, two of the largest organizations representing hospitals, were invited to and urged to attend ACEP’s Boarding Summit. Representatives from both groups attended.

In all, 15 health care organizations participated in the Summit:

• American College of Emergency Physicians
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• American Hospital Association
• American Nurses Association
• American Psychiatric Association
• America’s Essential Hospitals
• Apprise Health Insights
• Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR)/Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
• Emergency Nurses Association
• International Association of Fire Chiefs
• LeadingAge
• National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians
• National Alliance on Mental Illness
• National Governors’ Association

ACEP President Aisha Terry, MD, MPH, FACEP, as well as ACEP’s DC staff, are regularly having one-to-one conversations with hospital executives, government agencies, and others who can effect meaningful change. ACEP will continue pushing these groups to work harder to solve boarding issues, to improve patient safety, and to protect emergency physicians.

Backing State-Level Efforts

ACEP is currently working to provide our Connecticut chapter with a State Public Policy Grant to bolster its efforts to support state legislation that would require hospitals to collect and report data on emergency department wait times and volumes (CT SB 181).

The bill would require annual data on bed capacity, the number of ED patients admitted to the hospital, and average length of time from arrival to admission, among other information. The data would then be posted on the state department of public health’s website.

If passed, the Connecticut proposal would secure the nation’s first reported metrics on boarding at the state level.

Working with the Federal Government

Advocacy strategies work best when they tackle an issue from multiple angles. ACEP has been pushing the federal government – those with actual authority to regulate hospitals – to use its significant power to identify and enact boarding solutions.

We have requested that the recommendation from The Joint Commission (TJC) that no ED patient board for longer than four hours, be changed into a requirement.

ACEP has also asked the TJC and the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) program to include ED staffing levels in their assessments because they regulate hospitals and can have significant influence on hospital practices.

There are several requests ACEP has made of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including: