Senate Substitute Bill No. 960, designated as File No. 101, is a legislative proposal to establish a working group aimed at evaluating and advising on methods to alleviate crowding in emergency departments and the lack of available emergency department beds in the state. The bill mandates the Commissioner of Public Health to convene this working group by July 1, 2023. The group's tasks include establishing a quality measure for timely patient transfers out of emergency departments, creating emergency department discharge units, evaluating and planning to decrease the percentage of patients held in emergency departments while waiting for inpatient beds, and reducing liability for hospitals and emergency physicians when crowding causes significant wait times.

The working group may comprise various stakeholders, including physicians, nurses, patient care navigators, representatives from medical societies, hospital associations, and state departments, among others. The group is chaired by a physician from the Connecticut chapter of a national organization of emergency physicians and a representative from a hospital association, selected by the Commissioner of Public Health. The first meeting of the group is to be held no later than December 1, 2023, with biannual meetings thereafter. The group is required to report its findings and recommendations annually until January 1, 2025, to the Commissioner of Public Health and the General Assembly's joint standing committee on public health. The bill includes a fiscal note indicating a cost of $12,500 in both fiscal years 2024 and 2025 for the Department of Public Health to administer the working group, collect data, and report to the General Assembly. The bill is effective upon passage and amends the relevant sections accordingly.