Findings from the Fifth Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance Summit

Data and a shared vocabulary are essential for managing emergency department (ED) operations. This Fifth Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance (EDBA) Summit brought together many of the nation's experts in the field to update key ED operations definitions and to discuss challenges facing the nation's EDs. Summit objectives were (1) to revise existing definitions and establish new measures and metrics for ED operations and (2) to discuss and characterize current issues in emergency care. Fifty-four ED operations, data management, and benchmarking experts participated in the EDBA Summit. Participants discussed several challenges with designated workgroups focusing on behavioral health, capacity and boarding, and financial impacts on emergency care. Each workgroup created consensus recommendations and considered new definitions, measures, metrics, and terminology. The EDBA dictionary was updated and expanded. Specific timestamps and processes were proposed to quantify operational components of emergency care. A complete, precise set of language definitions is needed for organizational leaders to benchmark ED operations. Standardized language definitions allow such benchmarking, which hopefully ultimately improves ED operations and enhances patient care.