By QUINN MULLER
Photo Credit: Quinn Muller
In a move to address life-threatening emergency room wait times in Prince George’s County hospitals, a county council committee voted unanimously to expand a task force studying the issue.
The resolution, which was introduced by Councilmember Wala Blegay, (District 6), was passed by the Health, Human Services and Public Safety Committee on Feb. 20. It will add two new members to the Task Force to Address Hospital Emergency Room Wait Times, which currently has 17 members. The resolution also extends the task force’s reporting time, setting a Nov. 14 deadline. The county’s task force works cooperatively with a parallel task force at the state level.
A March 2024 report released by the Maryland General Assembly details that the state holds the longest emergency room wait times in the country; the average ER wait is four hours and 10 minutes. In Prince George’s County, which has nine hospitals, that number jumps to four hours and 52 minutes, the longest in the state.
Wait times at UM Laurel Medical Center are among the longest in Maryland hospitals, according to a 2022 study by Adventist HealthCare. Patients waited more than an hour, on average, to enter the emergency room.
Various studies show that these wait times can prove to be fatal. Patient mortality can increase by 13% for every additional hour spent waiting in the emergency room.
Jeffrey Cooper, a Prince George’s County resident and a member of the task force, blamed emergency departments’ challenges on several factors including housing instability, transportation barriers and limited access to primary care.
“These are not merely hospital issues but community-wide problems that require a coordinated response,” Cooper said. “Without addressing these fundamental concerns, no hospital expansion or income staff will create a sustainable solution to overcrowding ERs, excessive wait times and poor patient outcomes.”
The task force was created in 2023 to investigate root causes of wait times and make recommendations to the county council, according to the county council resolution.. The extension will allow the task force to submit a more complete report. The report is due Nov. 14.
“By extending the Emergency Room Task Force, we are not simply reducing wait time, but laying the foundation for a comprehensive long-term solution to emergency care disparities,” Cooper said.
Representatives from the Prince George’s County Police Department and the county’s Office of the Sheriff will join the task force, which currently includes community members, local medical professionals and county council members.
“[I] see this as a great opportunity, not just to tackle the issues that we have here in Prince George’s [County], but to have Prince George’s [County] be a leader and set an example that other jurisdictions can follow from the work that’s ultimately done here,” John Erzen, the deputy chief of staff with the Office of the County Executive, said.
