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Committee extends emergency-department wait-times task force, citing complex causes and need for more study
Summary
The committee voted 4-0 to extend the county’s emergency department wait-times task force to complete a final report; members and task force participants said the issue involves staffing, social determinants of health and coordination with law enforcement and state partners.
Prince George's County Council’s Health, Human Services and Public Safety Committee on Feb. 20 voted 4-0 to extend the county’s emergency-department (ED) wait-times task force to allow more time to complete a comprehensive report and recommendations.
Council member who sponsored CR-006-2025 told the committee the task force has discovered that ED waits are a multifaceted problem requiring coordination across hospitals, public safety and state partners. The committee heard public testimony from task force members and residents who supported the extension and urged the county to focus on data transparency, workforce development and integration of social-determinants-of-health screening into emergency care.
Testimony included Jeffrey Cooper, a Prince George's County resident and task force member, who urged the extension and described the problem as rooted in housing instability, food insecurity, limited access to primary care and transportation barriers. Cooper said the task force’s work should include enforcing ED performance transparency, integrating social-determinants screening and expanding urgent-care alternatives and workforce capacity to provide long-term relief for overburdened emergency departments.
Professor Carrie (Caroline) Williams Pierce, another task force member, described personal experience waiting hours in an ED with a family member and said the task force’s site visits to county hospitals exposed complexities beyond staffing, including the role EDs play as a safety net for uninsured and vulnerable residents. Erica Turner of the Office of the County Executive said the county has received presentations from all nine county emergency departments and noted the task force had not yet visited the Kaiser facility.
The committee also heard from the Office of Law, which reported no legal impediments to the resolution. Committee members said they learned from task force presentations and supported additional time to finalize recommendations. The motion to advance the resolution carried 4-0; the resolution will proceed to the full council. Committee members and witnesses emphasized coordination with the sheriff’s office, police, hospitals and the state as next steps for compiling recommendations and implementation plans.
