EDs Can't Sustain Care in Current Economic Environment

All hospitals must at the very least provide medical screening exams to anyone who presents to an emergency room regardless of their ability to pay and must determine their need for further treatment for an illness or injury within 24 hours. However the law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act is not funded, and hospitals have long complained that their ability to continue providing such care is increasingly limited. Patients are arriving later in the course of their illnesses, and are often much sicker, they claim.

Among other highlights from the report:

• The rate of emergency department visits among the uninsured, 452.1 visits per 1,000 persons, was much higher than the rate among the insured, 367 visits per 1,000 persons.
• Relative to the population distribution in the U.S., Medicare was billed for more ED visits resulting in admission (50.3% compared to 13.5% of the population); Medicaid was billed for more treat-and-release ED visits (23.1% compared with 12.9% of the population) and private health insurance was billed for far fewer ED treatment and release visits and visits resulting in admission.