ABC-ED Act of 2025

This legislation aims to alleviate emergency department boarding and crowding by enhancing public health data systems and fostering innovative care models. It amends the Public Health Service Act to allow public health data modernization grants to be used for developing state or region-wide, real-time systems that track hospital bed capacity and its impact on emergency department boarding rates, patient wait times, and emergency medical services offload times. These grants will also support the creation of public-facing dashboards to display this crucial information, while ensuring patient privacy. Furthermore, the bill expands the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's pilot programs to include new models focused on improving emergency care for specific vulnerable populations. One model promotes research-based strategies for older adults , addressing staffing, infrastructure, geriatric-focused protocols, and coordination with post-acute care facilities. Another model targets individuals experiencing acute psychiatric crisis , advocating for dedicated emergency department units and improved, expedited transfers to post-acute care facilities. Finally, the legislation directs the Comptroller General to conduct a comprehensive study on best practices for public health data systems used to track hospital capacity. This study will assess how such systems, including those supported by the expanded grants, can be made accurate, scalable, and integrated with electronic medical records, and will evaluate their effectiveness in reducing emergency department boarding and wait times.