Today, U.S. emergency departments (EDs) face a similar conundrum -- seemingly limitless demand for emergency services. Beginning in 2012, the annual number of ED visitsopens in a new tab or window nationally jumped from 131 to 150 millionopens in a new tab or window in just 7 years, easily outstripping population growth. A recent studyopens in a new tab or window in California found that from 2011 through 2019, ED visits increased 23.4% while the state's population grew by only 5%.
Concurrently, measures of ED overcrowding and dysfunction have also skyrocketed. From 2017 through 2021, the median percentage of ED patients nationally who left without being seen (LWBS) doubled from 1% to 2%. Another study found that by the end of 2021, boarding in a sampling of academic EDs had surged 40%opens in a new tab or window beyond pre-pandemic levels. Many EDs now find themselves in a state of gridlock worthy of the I-405.
NOTE: ED treatment is NOT considered a medical necessity and is not covered by Medicare. You should likewise not expect Medicare to pay for an ambulance ride to the ED.
Concurrently, measures of ED overcrowding and dysfunction have also skyrocketed. From 2017 through 2021, the median percentage of ED patients nationally who left without being seen (LWBS) doubled from 1% to 2%. Another study found that by the end of 2021, boarding in a sampling of academic EDs had surged 40%opens in a new tab or window beyond pre-pandemic levels. Many EDs now find themselves in a state of gridlock worthy of the I-405.
NOTE: ED treatment is NOT considered a medical necessity and is not covered by Medicare. You should likewise not expect Medicare to pay for an ambulance ride to the ED.
Opinion | If You Build It, They Will Come: EDs Are Victims of Induced Demand
We cannot simply build our way out of the overcrowding and boarding crisis
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