Hospitals Struggle with Emergency Department Capacity Crunch

Technology can help, but it's not a 'silver bullet' for the complex challenges, experts say

Mar. 17, 2026 at 10:35pm

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Hospitals across the country are facing a crisis in their emergency departments, with labor shortages, burnout, and growing capacity constraints straining the system. Health systems are turning to new technologies like AI and telehealth to help ease the burden, but experts warn that improper implementation could cause more problems than it solves. The key is understanding the specific bottlenecks and flow issues in each hospital's emergency department and using technology as a tool to address those, not as a crutch to make up for underlying problems.

Why it matters

The emergency department crisis is having ripple effects across entire hospital systems, leading to backups, delays, and quality of care issues. Solving this problem is critical for ensuring patients can access timely, high-quality emergency care when they need it most.

The details

Emergency departments are facing a perfect storm of challenges, including labor shortages, burnout among staff, and growing capacity constraints. Hospitals are turning to new technologies like AI, ambient listening devices, and telehealth to help alleviate the burden, but experts warn that improper implementation could cause more problems than it solves. The key is understanding each hospital's specific bottlenecks and flow issues, and using technology as a tool to address those, not as a crutch to make up for underlying problems.

  • The COVID-19 pandemic led to an uptick in pediatric behavioral health patients, straining emergency departments.
  • Emergency department physicians now spend over half their shift on non-clinical activities, up to 75% for nurses.

The players

Cherisse Mecham

Medical director of emergency departments at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Bruce Lo

Chief of the department of emergency medicine at Sentara Health's Norfolk General and Leigh Hospitals.

Tim Elliot

CEO of Navvis, a healthcare technology company.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“Just given based on the time of the year or even day to day throughout the week, [we are] almost doubling our patient volume from summer to winter, and then even in the winter time, on the day of the week, you can have swings of over 60 patients a day.”

— Cherisse Mecham, Medical director of emergency departments

“As an individual, how much more can you do or take on before you completely burn out, or you just can't handle it anymore and you start having issues of quality and errors?”

— Bruce Lo, Chief of emergency medicine

“It won't solve for an imperfect operating model. We need to start by focusing on what patient flow is going to look like and what gaps we have and where technology can play a role, but not let the technology dictate how we're going to care for the patients, but make sure the technology is enabling the way we want to care for patients.”

— Tim Elliot, CEO

What’s next

Hospitals are working to integrate new technologies like AI and telehealth into their emergency departments, but experts caution that proper testing, frontline buy-in, and integration with existing systems are critical to ensure successful implementation.

The takeaway

Solving the emergency department crisis will require a multi-faceted approach that addresses underlying operational and staffing issues, in addition to leveraging technology as a tool to improve patient flow and staff efficiency. There is no 'silver bullet' solution, but a careful, strategic approach can help hospitals provide timely, high-quality emergency care.