In case of emergency, leave Maryland

(The Center Square) – In the case of a holiday health emergency, there’s both good news and bad news for Marylanders.

Maryland ranked first in the nation for hospital quality and fourth for overall health care, according to a 2023 study by U.S. News and World Report. In addition to hospital quality, the study looked at Medicare and nursing home quality, preventable hospital admissions, health care access and states’ public health outcomes.

While Maryland ranked ninth for health care access – its health care was relatively affordable and health insurance enrollment relatively high – there’s one way in which Marylanders’ access to health care is seriously impaired: Emergency room visits.

Maryland currently has the worst emergency room wait times in the country, and depending on the source, it’s been at or near the bottom for years. The Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission found that, while the state’s hospital wait times are improving, patients still wait an average of eight hours to be admitted, according to a recent report.

In February, Frederick County Sen. Karen Lewis Young, D-District 3, introduced a bill that would create a task force to investigate the causes of the protracted wait times.

That bill never made it to the governor’s desk, but the state legislature still took action. The General Assembly directed the commission and the Maryland Hospitals Association to devise a strategy for progress.

They created the Emergency Department Dramatic Improvement Effort, or EDDIE for short. The commission aims to refine emergency department services through “rapid cycle quality improvement initiatives to meet hospital set goals related to ED throughput or length of stay” and public reporting of monthly data.

Prince George’s County also decided to establish its own task force in November, in lieu of one being formed by the state.

EDDIE began in the summer and already, hospitals are reporting positive changes.