Rep. Joyce and Rep. Dingell Introduce Bipartisan ABC-ED Act to Cut Emergency Room Wait Times
This bill is currently sitting in the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees. No action has been taken on the bill since April 2025, which means it has been stalled for 14 months. The bill must be reviewed by these committees before it can move forward.
The bill has strong bipartisan support from leaders in both parties, but it is currently in the early stages of the committee process.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
Medicaid enrollees use emergency departments at higher rates than other insurance groups, partly because of difficulty accessing primary care. Reducing ER boarding and crowding could improve the quality of emergency care these patients receive. The CMMI pilot programs could also eventually generate new care models that benefit Medicaid populations, though the bill's pilots are not specifically targeted at them.
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
The Addressing Boarding and Crowding in the Emergency Department Act would authorize the collection of data on patient volumes and direct studies to improve emergency care. The bipartisan bill seeks to modernize infrastructure for tracking hospital beds to reduce wait times and ambulance delays.
A study of 1,500 hospitals found ER boarding has reached peak levels. The American College of Emergency Physicians is urging support for the ABC-ED Act, which would expand real-time tracking of hospital bed capacity and pilot new care transitions for the elderly to alleviate the gridlock.
No votes recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Addressing Boarding and Crowding in the Emergency Department
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