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Background: Antibiotics within four hours of arrival for patients with pneumonia and percutaneous intervention (PCI) within two hours for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are standard measures of emergency department (ED) quality.

Objectives: To assess the institutional‐level association between measures of ED crowding and process measures for pneumonia and AMI.

Methods: The authors used summary data from 24 academic hospitals in the University Health Consortium. Analysis included the 2004 ED cycle time survey and performance data from January to December 2004 regarding the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' PN‐5b (initial antibiotic administration within four hours) for pneumonia and AMI‐8a (PCI received within 120 minutes). Spearman correlation coefficients were used to determine associations between …