Overcrowding in emergency departments is common in most healthcare organizations.  Barriers to efficient patient flow in emergency departments (EDs) create bottlenecks through the system. Upon entry to an ED, the triage process determines how quickly someone might be seen, but this process does not take into account how quickly a patient's condition might be managed, but rather the urgency for care. By addressing an additional component of triage, it was hypothesized that ED throughout could be better managed, reducing wait times for all patients, and better utilizing limited ED resources.