National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Emergency Care 

Emergency care is an integral part of the healthcare delivery system. But demand and capacity issues have contributed to increased patient wait time and decreased physician productivity, placing patients at risk for poor outcomes. This 3-chapter report presents 22 endorsed national voluntary consensus standards for emergency care that address the quality of hospital-based emergency department (ED) care and continuing in-hospital services, with particular emphasis on clinical quality, coordination, and efficiency. It presents the consensus standards and research recommendations related to ED transfers (Phase 1) and the consensus standards and research recommendations related to hospital-based ED care (Phase 2).The purpose of these voluntary consensus standards is to improve the quality of healthcare—through accountability and public reporting—by standardizing quality measurement in all EDs.