Emergency Medicine on Life Support

As we know, Emergency Medicine in the United States is in critical condition. Over-worked, under-paid, and under appreciated. Ambulances are turned away, patients are left waiting for hours and sometimes days. When they are finally seen internal pressure like lack of staffing combined with bonus structure such as RVU, makes getting these patients through as quickly as possible the priority vs. real patient-care. The result? Mistakes, Claims.... Patients and families left unhappy, suffering and physicians feeling like nothing can be done. What about reimbursement, overcrowding and lack of specialtists when they are needed most?
EMS, Specialtists and Emergency Physicians need to work as a team, Congress needs to ensure all emergency rooms are properly equipped and ready to handle whatever comes through the door. In 2003, emergency departments saw nearly 114 million patients - a 26 percent increase over the previous decade - but during the same 10 years the United States lost 703 hospitals and 425 emergency departments, one report noted.
Emergency departments are also playing key roles in disaster response, but in 2002 and 2003, emergency medical services received just 4 percent of the $3.38 billion doled out for emergency preparedness by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.The reports urges Congress to allocate $50 million to reimburse hospitals for uncompensated emergency and trauma care and to increase funding to provide hospitals with resources needed to handle disaster situations.
Uninsured patients use the emergency departments as if they are walk-in clinics. With over 47 million uninsured people in the United States, where are they supposed to go? Instead of putting out these daily fires in the ED, we have got to create long-term solutions.