{"id":528031,"date":"2026-03-17T03:21:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T03:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/528031\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T03:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T03:21:20","slug":"massachusetts-er-doctors-say-long-wait-times-reflect-a-health-system-under-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/528031\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts ER doctors say long wait times reflect a health system under strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLocal News\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEmergency doctors say hospital bed shortages, an aging population, and gaps in primary care are driving delays.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tEmergency hospital entrance at Boston Medical Center. (David L Ryan\/Globe Staff)\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Annie Jonas<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarch 16, 2026 | 2:15 PM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

4 minutes to read<\/p>\n

During his residency at UMass Chan Medical School, Kevan Mamdouhi dreamed of an emergency department with a newly built tower that included seemingly endless inpatient beds, patients flowing from the ER to hospital rooms upstairs, and a waiting room that finally cleared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a wonderful dream,\u201d he recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then he woke up. Reality was far messier: hours-long emergency room wait times, bed shortages, and a healthcare system under immense strain.<\/p>\n

For Massachusetts emergency physicians, that dream captures a simple truth: long ER waits rarely steam from care inside the department. Instead, doctors say they\u2019re the result of bottlenecks across a system stretched thin by staffing shortages, aging patients, limited hospital beds, and gaps in primary care.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts ranks near the top nationally for ER delays. Patients spend an average of 189 minutes<\/a> \u2014 more than three hours \u2014 in the emergency department before leaving, according to World Population Review. Only Maryland and Delaware report longer average stays.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmergency room wait times: Readers recount 10- to 30-hour ER stays\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Boston.com asked readers for their experiences, and many shared they waited eight, 10, 12 hours \u2014 or longer \u2014 to be seen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Emergency physicians hear those frustrations every day \u2014 and share them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe physicians and the nurses want the system fixed \u2014 maybe even more than the patients,\u201d said Steven Bird, an emergency medicine doctor at UMass Memorial University campus in Worcester. \u201cBecause we experience it every single day that we go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the ER works \u2014 and when it doesn\u2019t<\/p>\n

Emergency departments are designed to move quickly when space and staffing are available.<\/p>\n

When it\u2019s not busy, \u201cyou\u2019re in and out, and you get what you need,\u201d said emergency medicine physician Tanya Girgenrath. \u201cWhen all the resources and space are available \u2026 it actually operates very smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those conditions are becoming rare. <\/p>\n

The ER process typically begins with registration and triage, when a nurse evaluates symptoms and determines how urgently someone needs care. Patients then wait for an exam room or bed \u2014 and increasingly, doctors say, those spaces simply aren\u2019t available.<\/p>\n

The problem doctors call \u2018public enemy number one\u2019<\/p>\n

The biggest driver of ER delays has a name inside hospitals: boarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoarding in the emergency department is public enemy number one,\u201d Girgenrath said.<\/p>\n

Boarding happens when patients who need to be admitted to the hospital remain in the emergency room because no inpatient beds are available. Boarding can last not just for hours, but for days, weeks, or longer, doctors say. The problem worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>, which strained staffing and hospital capacity nationwide.<\/p>\n

Part of the pressure comes from an aging population with more complex health needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really experiencing the aging of the baby boomer population,\u201d Girgenrath said. \u201cThat elderly population \u2026 means that we just have more sicker patients than we did before.\u201d<\/p>\n

But hospital beds are also tied up by patients who are ready to leave but cannot be discharged because rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, or psychiatric units lack space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are patients \u2026 that have been in the hospital for a year or two or three, living there because there\u2019s no place for them to go,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>\n

When those beds remain occupied, the ripple effects reach the ER.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we can\u2019t get patients out of the hospital to short-term care, long-term care, home psychiatric facilities, then they languish in the ER,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>\n

The ER as the system\u2019s safety net<\/p>\n

Emergency rooms also serve as a stopgap for broader gaps in the health care system, doctors say.<\/p>\n

\u201cERs are being used as the band-aid for a problem we do not have the resources or ability to fix,\u201d Girgenrath said.<\/p>\n

Doctors say ER patients generally fall into three groups: those with true emergencies, those who need care but cannot access it elsewhere as they may lack a primary care doctor or insurance, and those seeking faster treatment than they could get through their primary.<\/p>\n

The nationwide shortage of primary care physicians contributes to that dynamic.\u00a0The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis\u00a0projects a shortage of 141,000 physicians by 2038<\/a>, including more than 70,000 in primary care.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting an appointment is difficult,\u201d Bird said. \u201cThat contributes\u2026 to the number of patients coming to the ER because they don\u2019t have a primary care physician.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent hospital closures, such as Carney Hospital in Dorchester and several Steward hospitals<\/a> across the state, forcing remaining hospitals to absorb more patients. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt falls on the remaining hospitals to use the resources they have to take care of a larger population,\u201d Mamdouhi said.<\/p>\n

Federal law also requires emergency departments to treat anyone who arrives, regardless of their insurance status.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegally we cannot turn away people who come to the ER,\u201d Bird said. <\/p>\n

Burnout behind the scenes<\/p>\n

The strain is taking a toll on emergency staff. Emergency medicine has one of the highest burnout rates<\/a> among medical specialties, Girgenrath said, and that pressure can affect flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re burned out, you\u2019re going to be less efficient,\u201d Girgenrath said. <\/p>\n

For physicians working inside crowded emergency departments, every shift involves trade-offs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the hardest things I have to navigate is doing the best possible thing for the person who is in front of me right now,\u201d Girgenrath said. \u201cIf I do absolutely everything for one person, that\u2019s 30 people in the waiting room who haven\u2019t seen a doctor at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors say they know the wait is stressful often apologize repeatedly during shifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologize for the wait. I apologize we don\u2019t have a room for you. I apologize you\u2019re in the cold hallway,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>\n

Solutions beyond the ER<\/p>\n

Doctors say solving the problem would require changes beyond the emergency department \u2014 including expanding hospital capacity and strengthening primary care.<\/p>\n

Some hospitals are trying smaller fixes. Mamdouhi said Lahey Hospital & Medical Center is relocating outpatient clinics in the main building to another building so that space can be converted into inpatient beds.<\/p>\n

But those efforts only go so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution is that we need more beds,\u201d Mamdouhi said. \u201cThe way to go about that is not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until broader policy changes are addressed, doctors say emergency departments will continue to absorb the pressure of a strained health care system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not from a lack of wanting to see patients or wanting to work,\u201d Bird said. \u201cIt\u2019s that our hands are figuratively tied.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n

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