Emergency Department 4+ Hour Boarding Reaches 25 Percent During Nonpeak Months

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 13, 2025.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13, 2025 -- Nationally, one-fourth of patients admitted to the hospital from the emergency department have to wait four hours or more for a bed during nonpeak months, according to a study published in the June issue of Health Affairs.

Alexander T. Janke, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues used national electronic health record data on nearly 46.2 million hospitalizations (2017 to 2024; 1,500 hospitals) in a cross-sectional analysis to examine trends in burdens of hospital boarding in U.S. emergency departments during winter peak months (December and January) and nonpeak months (all other months) of each year.

The researchers found that in the last three years, more than 25 percent of all patients who came to a hospital’s emergency department during a nonpeak month who were admitted to the same hospital, waited four hours or more for a bed, exceeding national hospital standards. Boarding was even higher during winter peak months (approximately 35 percent). By 2024, nearly 5 percent of all patients admitted to a hospital from the emergency department during winter peak months waited 24 hours or more for a bed, and 2.6 percent waited 24 hours or more for a bed during nonpeak months. Boarding reached its peak in January 2022, with 40.1 percent of patients boarding for four hours or more and 6.3 percent boarding for 24 hours or longer.

"Long boarding times increase patient safety risks, and delay needed care, while making it difficult for emergency departments to see new patients as they arrive," Janke said in a statement. "Sustained high levels of boarding, as we have seen over the past three years, suggest the health system is at risk of collapse in the event of another pandemic."

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

Posted August 2025

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Emergency Department 4+ Hour Boarding Reaches 25 Percent During Nonpeak Months

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