Patidar Nitish, Weech-Maldonado Robert, O'Connor Stephen J, Sen Bisakha, Trimm Jerry M, Camargo Carlos A
1 Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, USA.
2 The University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.
Inquiry. 2017 Jan 1;54:46958017727106. doi: 10.1177/0046958017727106.
The number of freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) is growing rapidly in the United States. Proponents of FSEDs cite potential benefits of FSEDs including lower waiting time and reduced travel distance for needed emergency care. Others have suggested that increased access to emergency care may lead to an increase in the use of emergency departments for lower acuity patients, resulting in higher overall health care expenditures. We examined the relationship between the number of FSEDs in each county and total Medicare expenditures between 2003 and 2009. Our results show that each additional FSED in a county is associated with an expenditure increase of $55 per Medicare beneficiary. This finding suggests that even if FSEDs may increase access to emergency care, it may result in higher overall Medicare expenditures.
在美国，独立急诊科（FSEDs）的数量正在迅速增长。FSEDs的支持者列举了其潜在益处，包括缩短等待时间以及减少获得所需急诊护理的出行距离。其他人则认为，增加急诊护理的可及性可能导致低 acuity 患者使用急诊科的次数增加，从而使总体医疗保健支出更高。我们研究了2003年至2009年间每个县的FSEDs数量与医疗保险总支出之间的关系。我们的结果表明，一个县每增加一个FSED，每位医疗保险受益人的支出就会增加55美元。这一发现表明，即使FSEDs可能增加急诊护理的可及性，但这可能会导致医疗保险总体支出增加。
