Emergency department overcrowding

October 23, 2008

The Annals of Emergency Medicine did a study earlier this year showing that much of the overcrowding is due to insured patients. JAMA recently re-iterated the findings. Newsweek interviews the lead author, who cites a lack of primary care access as a major culprit.

Politicians are focused on the uninsured, but it won’t help with ED congestion. If anything, it will make things worse:

Providing insurance to more people will help with overall health. It may help the currently uninsured find a primary care provider. But it is not going to help with ER overcrowding, because the primary care doctors are still going to be overbooked.



Related posts:

  1. USA Today op-ed: Poor physician access worsens emergency department crowding
  2. Massachusetts and emergency overcrowding
  3. Is the recession affecting emergency department volume?
  4. Poor primary care access drives up emergency department use
  5. Why kids are crowding the emergency department
  6. Unnecessary workup in the emergency department
  7. Should we screen for HIV in the emergency department?


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