The number of older people seeking health care is expected to increase significantly over the next 40 years, doubling in the case of those older than 65, potentially tripling among those over 85. In a health care system already critically short of primary care providers and geriatrics specialists, many of these older patients will likely end up in emergency rooms. But given longstanding trends in American medicine, it's hard to imagine a health care setting more ill suited for the elderly than today's emergency rooms. Over the last five decades, quality emergency care has become synonymous with speed.
