EDs can’t sustain care in current economic environment

A recent federal report casts more concern that hospital emergency rooms are having increasing difficulty treating all comers, especially because federal payments and the uninsured don't pay their full cost of care.

"There is a growing concern that EDs will not be able to sustain care for all persons in the current economic environment," according to the report, entitled "Payers of Emergency Department Care, 2006," that was published by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

"Between 1993 and 2003, there was a 23% increase in ED visits and a closure of 425 hospital EDs. In addition, a recent Institute of Medicine report notes that EDs have become increasingly overcrowded, overburdened, and underfunded. Yet little is known about who is paying for ED care, what the charges are for the care, and how to potentially relieve this pressure," the report said.

Of all visits to hospital emergency departments in 2006, 41.8% of the care was billed to the federal government–21.6% to Medicaid and 20.2% to Medicare. Another 17.7% were uninsured. An estimated 34.6% was billed to private insurance, and the rest to other private payers.

Read the full story by HealthLeaders Media’s Cheryl Clark.