Better primary care could have prevented almost half of ER visits:

Nearly half of emergency room visits in New Jersey by people who were not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital might have been avoided with primary care, a Rutgers researcher said Wednesday.

Derek DeLia of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy also found that 31 percent of hospital admissions made through the emergency department were potentially preventable with primary care. More than half were elderly patients covered by Medicare.

The study also found that although uninsured patients and those covered by Medicaid are more likely to make potentially avoidable emergency room outpatient visits, the biggest volume of visits is by those with private insurance, DeLia said.