A confluence of challenges is renewing the urgency to address one of emergency medicine’s seemingly intractable issues: boarding in the emergency department. On September 27, ACEP will convene a national summit on emergency department boarding in its Washington, DC office.

Congressional representatives, federal and state government officials, regulatory leaders, health care stakeholder groups, and patient advocates are expected to attend the day-long discussion.

ACEP has sounded the alarm on the boarding crisis over the past year, collecting more than 140 heartbreaking stories straight from the frontlines and supporting legislative solutions to help vulnerable patients. ACEP sent a letter to the President in November 2022 asking the White House to host a summit that would bring together everyone affected to discuss collaborative solutions. Since then, the situation has only become more urgent. Action from the White House did not appear to be forthcoming, so ACEP moved forward with organizing and hosting the summit.

“The status quo is dangerous and unacceptable,” said Laura Wooster, ACEP senior vice president, advocacy and practice affairs. “Many of the causes of ED boarding are out of the control of the individual hospital or ED team—collaborative system-wide solutions are the only way to address this crisis.”

The goal of the summit is to bring together senior leaders from the private and public sector to identify tangible policy and real-world solutions for immediate and long-term implementation.

Read more about ACEP’s boarding advocacy and view proposed solutions at acep.org/boarding.