Emergency Room For what reason Do So Many People Still Go to the Emergency Room? When Americans need healthcare, about half the time they’ll head to the emergency room.
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That’s the finding of a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The researchers examined data from several national healthcare databases covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1996 and 2010.
In 2010, they found there were almost 130 million emergency department visits in the United States.
Over the 14-year period examined in the study, emergency room visits increased by 44 percent.
“Emergency care plays a significant role in healthcare delivery. We found that half of all hospital-associated medical care provided between 1996 and 2010 was provided in emergency departments,” Dr. David Marcozzi, an author of the study and associate professor in the University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine, told Healthline.
“I believe the surprisingly high proportion of medical care being delivered by emergency departments stems from multiple factors: access to healthcare, consumer-driven needs, an appreciation for the comprehensive care delivered by emergency departments, and the ability of emergency departments to fill a critical gap with regard to care delivered to vulnerable populations,” he said.
Who’s most likely to visit the ER
Those in the “other” insurance category, including people without insurance, were the most likely to visit emergency rooms.
People living in the South were also more likely to visit the emergency department when compared with other areas of the country.
African-American patients were significantly more likely to visit the emergency department than other racial groups.
In 2010, African-American patients used the emergency department 54 percent of the time. In urban areas, the rate was higher, at 59 percent.
Marcozzi says the study draws attention to health disparities experienced by certain communities in the United States.
He believes emergency departments are bridging a gap in care for such communities.
“As health literacy or healthcare access during business hours are often barriers to care, emergency departments open 24/7 fill the gap and support that individual or family in need of medical evaluation and treatment,” he said. “[Emergency departments] accept this role and responsibility, but also recognize that seamless connectivity to outpatient physician and services could be better coordinated and optimized. This is an area ripe for improvement, and should be a focus of attention.”
Situation may not change soon
Given the structure of the healthcare system in the United States and systemic issues surrounding lack of access to healthcare — in particular for vulnerable groups — Marcozzi says the rate of emergency department visits is unlikely to decrease soon.
This is cause for concern, he says.
“As emergency departments struggle with the burden of increasing numbers of patients, the number of emergency departments in the United States is decreasing, and providers are more challenged to provide optimal, timely care. This divergence puts increasing strain on an already challenged emergency care system,” Marcozzi said.
“Efforts are needed to modify healthcare delivery systems so that this care is more seamlessly connected to the larger health delivery system. This is critical to our nation’s health and resilience,” he added.
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