hospital impact

by Nick Jacobs

Over the past two years hospital emergency departments nationally have experienced considerable increases in the number of visitors that they see. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that emergency department visits rose to an all-time high of 11 million in 2005 which is five million more visits than in 2004. Both the closure of emergency departments and the overall increase in visits have contributed to these increases.

These numbers represent about a 31% increase in visits per department across the United States, the CDC report revealed. Overall there has been, on average, about 7000 more visits per year per emergency department with the highest number of visits coming from Medicaid recipients who averaged 88 visits per 100 recipients. In other statistics there were 42 million visits from injuries yet only about 14% of the visits were from non emergent medical reasons.

This has created challenges for both physicians and staff as more resources are consumed. The stress of increased numbers has encouraged numerous physicians to resign or retire. Demands for higher compensation are also much more common. Along with this the staff also suffers from periodic bouts of burn out from dealing with both the stressed physicians and the increased numbers of patients. Sub specialists are regularly canceling or limiting their privileges, and they also are retiring, or moving onto courtesy staff positions to avoid the relentless on call duties required.

Now, in your mind's eye, try to imagine a situation where care is compromised due to these circumstances.

Another level of complication occurs for the hospitals as patient's unpaid emergency room bills have reached a new high. Many individuals using these facilities are either incapable or unwilling to pay for their care and treatment.

If you're tracking here, what you are reading about is the all too often predicted beginnings of a healthcare train wreck, a potential medical disaster. Life as we know it has already begun to change dramatically in the acute care business. Recruiting emergency room physicians and sub specialists has been a challenge for nearly five years, and we have not even begun to feel the impact of the exodus of the Boomer Doctors and staff members.

Could it be that the 47 million uninsured who are accounted for are finding no other means of receiving care? Is it possible that they do not have access to primary care physicians, to medical coverage, and have no where to turn. Is it conceivable that they allow their minor medical problems to become major problems because of these same circumstances? Maybe we should all begin to pay closer attention to the Presidential candidates and determine if their health policies are meaningful for the United States of America?