An important contributor to the well-known problem of Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding is prolonged boarding of patients who are admitted through the ED. Patients admitted through the ED constitute about 50% of all non-obstetrical hospital admissions, and may be boarded in the ED for long...

Addressing hospital emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a critical challenge for many healthcare systems worldwide. Many hospitals (including our partner hospital) have been experimenting with innovative patient flow designs to address this challenge. A promising new design is to separate...

The U.S. healthcare system is undergoing a period of substantial change, with hospitals purchasing many physician practices (“vertical integration"). In theory, this vertical integration could improve quality by promoting care coordination, but could also worsen it by impacting the care...