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Monday, May 15, 2006
Growing Demand for Emergency Room Visits AndThe Addition of New Hospitals
On November 19, 2002, Stuart Altman, Ph.D., made a presentation in a Web-assisted teleconference at Event 1, which was entitled "The Big Picture: Hospitals in a Volatile Healthcare Environment." He mentionned the Growing Demand for Emergency Room Visitsand the Addition of New Hospitals.
Stuart Altman, PhD, is Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy, The Florence Heller School of Public Health, Brandeis University
Few elements that I have kept from his talk are:
o Increased Inpatient Utilization.
o Continued Growth in Outpatient Use.
o Increased ED Use.
* Accelerating Cost of Services.
* But, Inadequate Payment Rates from:
o Medicaid.
o Uninsured.
o Medicare.
This bar graph provides national estimates of the number of Emergency Department visits by year. The numbers of visits were: 1990, 92 million; 1992, 91 million; 1994, 90 million; 1996, 93 million; 1998, 96 million; 2000, 103 million; and in 2001, 110 million.
The projections prepared by the Advisory Board on how many more hospitals will be needed by the year 2011 based upon different sets of assumptions: A conservative estimate puts the additional number of hospitals needed at 1,023, a moderate estimate at 2,491 and an aggressive estimate at 4,914.
cati at 12:35 PM