Psychiatric boarding is the phenomenon of mental health patients who are otherwise medically stable waiting for a psychiatric evaluation or disposition while in the emergency department. It’s a systemic problem that has been well-documented in both the medical literature and by the U.S. media. On average, these psychiatric patients wait three times longer than patients waiting for a medical bed, and ED staff spend twice as much effort locating inpatient beds for them.¹

Meanwhile, the psychiatric patients, who may be suffering from hallucinations, paranoia, confusion, or dysphoria, often go untreated (or are merely sedated) and certainly don’t benefit from the delays. In addition, psychiatric patients may cost the emergency department more than $130 per hour on top of all other costs simply by taking up a bed.²

Commonly, the boarding psychiatric patient isn’t in a situation conducive to mental health healing, often kept under watch by a sitter or restrained to gurneys in hallways or back exam rooms. And this is no rare event; boarding is a frequent occurrence across the nation. A 2008 study by ACEP indicated that more than 90 percent of emergency departments boarded psychiatric patients on a weekly basis and 55 percent on a daily basis. The problem has only been magnified in subsequent years.³

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