Emergency departments are often the first stop for patients in need of urgent and life-saving care. Yet across the country, EDs are overwhelmed and plagued by long wait times, staffing shortages and increasingly complex patient needs. These challenges not only delay care, but they also place added pressure on clinical teams and compromise patient safety.
In an article with Chief Healthcare Executive, Dominique Wells, chief operating officer at Conduit Health Partners, shares her insights on addressing long wait times in emergency departments—and why optimizing patient transfer processes is more critical than ever.
The Emergency Transfer Challenge
ED crowding doesn’t just delay care—it can endanger lives. Consider a rural ED facing multiple patients in cardiac distress on the same night. With limited nursing staff and no centralized system, the process of locating and securing a bed can take hours, delaying care and risking outcomes. Behavioral health patients, particularly those experiencing suicidal ideation, face an even greater risk, as EDs often lack the therapeutic environments and psychiatric staff required to meet their needs.
In many cases, these patients are “boarded” in the ED, sometimes for days. This not only ties up critical space but also drains staff resources and contributes to burnout.
Partnering for Better Patient Transfers
One of Conduit Health Partner’s clients, Mercy Health — Springfield Regional Medical Center, understood that the strain was especially acute for behavioral health patients. Without dedicated resources to manage patient transfers, staff faced delays in placing individuals in crisis, while ED teams became bogged down by calls and coordination efforts. Recognizing the need for change, the hospital turned to a Conduit Health Partners, their outsourced patient transfer partner to improve the process.
The results have been remarkable. ED length of stay for behavioral health patients dropped 64%, and communication became significantly more efficient—with a 27% reduction in call volume and a 50-second decrease in average call time.
An Outsourced, Nurse-First Solution
This success story emphasizes a growing reality in health care: outsourced, nurse-led transfer centers can dramatically improve throughput, reduce staff burden and ensure patients receive timely, appropriate care.
By standardizing transfer protocols, using technology to simplify the bed request process and employing clinical professionals to oversee each step, hospitals can free up emergency staff to focus on what matters most—treating patients..
This approach demonstrates that with the right tools, expertise, and support, hospitals can overcome ED bottlenecks and deliver safer, faster, and more coordinated care, especially for vulnerable behavioral health populations.
In today’s environment, where emergency departments are facing mounting demands, optimizing the patient transfer process is not just a nice-to-have. It’s essential.
