ASSEMBLYMEMBER TED LIEU
53RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
For Immediate Release: April 7, 2008
Contact: Ashlie Simpson
Phone: (916) 319-2053

Lieu Introduces Bill to Alleviate Emergency Room Overcrowding

Sacramento, CA – Today, Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) introduced AB 2207, which would significantly reduce dangerous overcrowding in California emergency rooms. 

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you are a CEO living in Palos Verdes with the gold standard in health insurance or a homeless person on skid row,” said Assemblymember Lieu, “if you need immediate emergency care and you are brought into a full emergency room and have to be rerouted to another hospital, your chances of death have increased.” 

California is currently last in the nation as far as the number of emergency rooms available per capita, providing 6 ERs for every 1 million people.  Due to the low number of facilities available, emergency rooms are dangerously overcrowded and creating a dangerous crisis in the state.  Studies show that the most significant cause of overcrowding is the boarding of admitted patients in the Emergency Department.  Boarding is the practice of keeping patients who have been treated and no longer need emergency care treatment, but still need to remain in the hospital.  

AB 2207 would require all California hospitals to create and implement protocols for moving patients when the emergency room hits capacity.  It would also allow hopsitals to use additional rooms, such as hallways, conference rooms and waiting rooms, as patient care areas, which is currently prohibited by California law.  This would give the emergency room the ability to see patients more efficiently as the facility reaches capacity. 

“The bill addresses two problems.  First, it increases bed capacity in hospitals by allowing them to use excess space to place patients who no longer need emergency care,” said Assemblymember Lieu.  “Second, emergency room doctors have reported that many times there are open beds in the regular hospital floors, but the hospital management does not move patients to those beds even when the emergency room is severely overcrowded.” 

AB 2207 is supported by the American College of Emergency Room Physicians. It will be heard in committee in the coming weeks.