![Close up image of a caretaker helping older woman walk](https://www.mcknights.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2021/10/GettyImages-173807841-860x484.jpg)
U.S. hospital-based emergency rooms are packed, but many are planning to expand in the next couple years, according to a new report.
Between 40% to 50% of an estimated 4,500 hospital-based emergency rooms have crowding, according to a report released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reasons include: a higher percentage of nursing vacancies, increased patient volume, and patients waiting longer and taking longer to be treated.
About one-third of the hospitals surveyed said they planned to expand their ERs in the next two years; 16.1% had done so in the previous two years, CDC said.
See the report at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs.