CT  first state to publicly report ED wait times

Like most states, Connecticut ‘s Emergency Departments (Eds) are overcrowded, causing staff burnout, crowding, and worse patient outcomes. To highlight the scope of the crisis, the CT College of Emergency Physicians has published a dashboard of ED boarding (waits in the ED for admission) and other performance measures.  Connecticut is the first state to publicly report this data.

Unfortunately, the numbers are not good. In 2024, of the 228,180 Connecticut ED patients who needed an inpatient level of care, almost 37.8 % waited in the ED for more than four hours. That year a total of 1,663,899 patients were treated in a Connecticut EDs

The dashboard includes metrics by hospital. Again, there is a lot of room to improve. In 2024, seven Connecticut hospitals were at a Critical level for Boarding patients, 112 were at High level, 7 are Moderate, and just 2 are Low (Sharon and UConn). Wait times varied considerably, from 3.1 hours at Greenwich Hospital to 9.6 hours at Waterbury Hospital.

The authors “ask our legislators to continue their work to remove barriers to patient throughput and ensure access to prompt and efficient care.”