More than two dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives have written a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) asking the agency to pursue policies that would encourage patients with non-emergent needs to visit urgent care centers rather than emergency rooms. Crowding at emergency rooms has become a national problem. According to CMS data, the median wait time for patients in emergency rooms has increased from 2 hours, 18 minutes in 2014 to 2 hours, 40 minutes in 2022. The average overall length of stay for emergency room patients increased from 184 minutes in 2019 to 205 minutes in 2022, according to the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance.
Read the full article: Lawmakers to CMS: Promote Urgent Care Centers to Address ER Crowding //
Source: https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/clinical-care/lawmakers-cms-promote-urgent-care-centers-address-er-crowding