The AP (4/15, Bose, Thorp) reports experts warn that ER boarding “will worsen as the number of people 65 and older in the U.S. with dementia grows in the coming decades.” Symptoms of increasing ER boarding include “shrinking points of entry for patients seeking care outside of ERs and hospitals prioritizing beds for procedures insurance companies often pay more for.” A February research letter published in JAMA “shows there are 16% fewer staffed beds in the U.S. post-pandemic.” According to a data analysis by the AP and Side Effects Public Media, “one in six visits to the emergency department in 2022 that resulted in hospital admission had a wait of four or more hours,” and half of patients “who were boarded for any length of time were 65 and older.” Another JAMA research letter published last June “looked at more than 200,000 patients and found long ER stays could be linked to a higher risk of [patients with dementia] developing delirium.” (SOURCE: APA Headlines April 16, 2025)