In spite of the growing patient safety movement worldwide, health care has not become measurably safer. Health care is one of the few risk-prone areas in which public demand limits the use of common-sense safety-enhancing solutions, such as limiting the flow and choosing the type of incoming patients. The latter is especially true for emergency departments (EDs) since they deliver an important public service by providing emergency care 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, without discrimination by social or economic status. One of the key expectations of EDs is the ability to provide immediate access and stabilization for those patients who have an emergency medical condition. However, emergency department (ED) crowding is recognized to be a major, international problem that affects patients and providers. A recent report from the IOM noted that the increasing strain caused by crowding is creating a deficit in quality of emergency care. Crowding has been associated with reduced access to emergency medical services, delays in care for cardiac patients, increased patient mortality, inadequate pain management, increased costs of patient care, and delays in administration of antibiotic therapy.