Emergency Patients Face Delays For Serious Problems, Including Heart Attack And Pain 

Washington, D.C. — Visits to emergency departments climbed to a record high of 119.2 million in 2006, up from

115 million in 2005, with an average of 227 visits per minute, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Emergency physicians are providing a health care safety net for everyone, including those with health insurance, according to the AmericanCollege of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and efforts to reform the nation’s health care system must include help for emergency patients.

According to the report, the number of patients seeking care for non-urgent medical conditions (defined as needing to be seen within two to 24 hours) dropped to 12.1 percent of visits (from 13.9 in 2005).  Age groups with the highest visit rates (per capita) were infants under 12 months of age and the elderly (over age 75).

“Millions more people each year are seeking emergency care, but emergency departments are continuing to close, often because so much care goes uncompensated, which is the real economic issue in emergency medicine today,” said Dr. Linda Lawrence, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  “This report is very troubling, because it shows that care is being delayed for everyone, including people in pain and with heart attacks.  As policymakers debate proposals to reform the health care system, which focus on early treatment and prevention, it’s essential to remember that none of those reforms will be achieved for years to come.  In the meantime, emergency departments are providing a health care safety net for everyone.  That’s why any efforts to reform health care must include resources to strengthen the nation’s ERs, which are a critical, often life or death, part of our health care system.”

The new CDC report said in one decade — from 1996 to 2006 — the number of emergency patient visits rose from 90.3 million to 119.2 million — an increase of 32 percent or an average annual increase of nearly 3 million visits (2.9 million) per year.  The number of hospital emergency departments decreased from 4,019 to 3,833. 

“This report raises concerns about the large number of aging baby boomers, because the elderly tend to have more chronic health problems, and the second highest percent of emergency visits for serious medical conditions was found among people ages 75 and older, which could mean catastrophic overcrowding in a few years,” said

Dr. Lawrence.  “Crowding and the shortages of physicians, which continue to worsen, and the reimbursement shortfalls, which Congress was just debating, are why the nation’s emergency physicians are advocating for Congress to pass the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act [H.R. 882 and S.1003].  We also urge the presidential candidates to address the escalating crisis facing emergency patients as part of their health care reform proposals.”

In addition, this report contains data not previously reported, including:

• 11 percent of all ambulatory medical care visits in the United States occur in the emergency department, but emergency physicians represent only 3.3 percent of active physicians.
   
  
• From 1996 to 2006, the overall (population-based) emergency department utilization rate increased by 18 percent — from 34.2 to 40.5 visits per 100 people.
   
  
• The top five reasons for emergency visits were stomach and abdominal pain, cramps and spasms; chest pain and related symptoms; fever: and headache (pain in head); and back symptoms.  The most common reasons for visits among children (ages 15 and younger) were fever, cough, vomiting, earache and injury to head, neck or face.
   
  
• Visits for injuries and poisoning accounted for 42.4 million visits.  Most injuries were related to unintentional falls and motor vehicle crashes.
   
  
• More emergency patients came in the winter (32.5 million) and the summer (31.4 million), compared with the spring (28.1 million) and fall (27.2 million).
   
  
• Private insurance was the most frequent source of payment, accounting for nearly 40 percent (39.7 percent) of all visits.  Other sources included Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (25.5 percent) and Medicare (17.3 percent).   The uninsured (including self-pay, no charge, charity, and where no other payment source was reported) represented 17.4 percent of visits.

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