• Maureen M Canellas, Marcella Jewell, Jennifer L Edwards, Danielle Olivier, Adalia H Jun-O'Connell, and Martin A Reznek.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine, Worcester, MA; Department of Emergency Medicine, UMass Memorial Health, Worcester, MA. Electronic address: maureen.canellas@umassmemorial.org.
• Ann Emerg Med. 2024 Oct 1; 84 (4): 376385376-385.

Study ObjectiveBoarding admitted patients in emergency departments (EDs) is a national crisis that is worsening despite potential financial disadvantages. The objective of this study was to assess costs associated with boarding.MethodsWe conducted a prospective, observational investigation of patients admitted through an ED for management of acute stroke at a large, urban, academic, comprehensive stroke center hospital. We employed time-driven activity-based costing methodology to estimate cost for patient care activities during admission and aggregated results to estimate the total cost of boarding versus inpatient care. Primary outcomes were total daily costs per patient for medical-surgical (med/surg) boarding, med/surg inpatient care, ICU boarding, and ICU inpatient care.ResultsThe total daily cost per patient with acute stroke was US$1856, for med/surg boarding versus US$993 for med/surg inpatient care and US$2267, for ICU boarding versus US$2165, for ICU inpatient care. These differences were even greater when accounting for costs associated with traveler nurses. ED nurses spent 293 min/d (mean) caring for each med/surg boarder; inpatient nurses spent 313 min/d for each med/surg inpatient. ED nurses spent 419 min/d caring for each ICU boarder; inpatient nurses spent 787 min/d for each ICU inpatient. Neurology attendings and residents spent 25 and 52 min/d caring for each med/surg boarder versus 62 minutes and 90 minutes for each med/surg inpatient, respectively.ConclusionUsing advanced cost-accounting methods, our investigation provides novel evidence that boarding of admitted patients is financially costly, adding greater urgency for elimination of this practice.Copyright © 2024 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

23 keywords...

hide…