More data for the "please don't immediately recommend the ER" cause

[feckalyn.livejournal.com]

Friendly mod post here y'all~

Some of you know about my crusade to try to limit the use of our dwindling Emergency Rooms to true emergencies only. Here's my last post on the matter.

Anyway, the CDC released a report on the status of Emergency Department use in the US this week. And the news isn't great.

"A record 114 million Americans visited a hospital emergency room in 2003, despite a steady decline in the number of E.R. facilities available nationwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report issued Thursday.

While E.R. visits shot up 26 percent over the decade from 1993 to 2003, the number of emergency department facilities fell 14 percent over that span."

See more in the CDC's report.

So when you see fellow vp-ers asking for medical advice, please refer them to a local ask-a-nurse line (usually available though community hospitals) or their personal medical provider rather than the ER. I know I want to have access to ER care when I'm having a medical emergency and I'm sure you do too, but if we keep misusing them they aren't going to be there when we need them!

Comments

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

Yep, I remember when someone here posted about finding a pinworm and got like 10 responses saying: "ER. NOW." Really, pinworm is about as serious as head lice, right? Yeesh. Your last post gives excellent reasons to not head for the ER for every last thing.

The one time I visited the ER there was a sign on the wall saying that they cannot refuse to treat you even if you can't pay. But that doesn't mean they won't come after you for the money later, which the sign didn't say. I guess this is where people get the misconception that ER visits are free if you're poor. It's a fine line to walk, because if they added a "but you have to pay later" stipulation to the sign, people might be scared away from getting care that they actually need.

[strand3d.livejournal.com]

I don't know many ER's that just let you get away with not paying. I work for an ER doctor and we bill everyone he sees. If you don't have insurance, and you refuse to pay, you're going to a collection agency. It sucks, but don't go unless you're really sick, ya know?

[feckalyn.livejournal.com]

There are a few ER's that are categorized as "Indigent Care Facilities" and they have public funding so that they can write off care for the poorest patients.

Unfortunately there is a very common misconception that all ERs provide this service and that is a huge part of the problem. The more people who show up at the ERs the more fiscally stressed they get the more they have to shut down.

I heard a state senator on NPR stating that every citizen of his state had access to health care because everyone could go get served at the ER. Well yes, they can't turn you away, but they're going to charge you something like 8 times what you would pay for an office visit for that privilege.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

I imagine that all the medical professionals listening to the show *headdesked* simultaneously. Do you know if anyone set the senator straight?

[feckalyn.livejournal.com]

I imagine so on the headdesking, and there was no correcting this guy.

He was a rabid republican and an idiot to boot. Interestingly a lot of conservatives hold the idea that ER = health care for all.

My fav. quote from him was on the topic of requiring insurance companies to cover contraceptives. He said to me:

"If a man is going to avail himself of the opportunity to become a father, he's going to have to take some responsibility."

So, you can see, perhaps, that trying to educate this guy was pretty pointless. Fortunately he was voted out last term :)