ER Overload

Also, the comment about the expense of the ER treatment recieved ("$5,000") for the person without insurance versus a $50 co-pay; there are many people out there who will not pay their bill regardless of the cost! The thing is an Emergency Department and a hospital HAVE to treat you regardless of your outstanding debt!

I'have been an ER Nurse, I can't believe how some people abuse the medicaid system which is like a free insurance for others, there is this man who always come to ER with Chest pain, once somebody complained of chest pain you need to do the whole process. First he start calling the ambulance from home because, he claimed he had chest pain, 10 out of 10 of his visits, its always negative. So the next time he show up again in ER, since I become friend and knew him so well, I ask him what is the real reason why he always like to go to ER. He told me I'm alone in my home, I wanted some company, I like the waiting room I could talk and socialize, since he is old and not probably going to pay for all the expenses that he had incurred for the past visit. I told him don't you think, you are fooling yourself and this facility and abusing the system. And Senator Obama would like to give free health insurance for all. How many more people will abuse the system since its free healthcare for everybody? like this example.

I work as a Registered Nurse in a hospital in Indiana. We see many people who are either uninsured or have Medicaid that are not emergencies. It is hard to explain to the peole who come in with non-emergent things that they will have to wait. I realize it is hard to have to wait 3-4 hours to find out what is wrong-I have been there with my child but when it isn't an emergency, it doesn't take priority.

As an ER nurse I feel that there is alot of people who cause the overcrowding. These are not the uninsured but the Medicaid recipients. When you come to the ER on Sunday for poison ivy you have had for a week, I don't feel that you are in an emergent situation. I agree about calling the doctor's offices. When a patient calls for an appointment and they can't get one soon they are frequently told "if you can't wait until then you can go to the ER." Patients then interpret this as being told to go to the ER so they do. I'm not sure what the solution is. Med-STATS attached to hospitals with people paying on an income based range? I hear from patient that are uninsured that they are charged a large fee up front and if they can't pay all of that then they won't be seen. I agree with having to hold patients in the ER for days because there are no inpatient beds. One thing I do know is that by the end of a busy day the patients are angry, the nurses are exhausted and the physicians are fried. I do feel that people abuse the ER and there needs to be a way to discourage the "poison ivy" patients from showing up on Sunday. these are usually the people who are "shocked" that they are going to have to wait to be seen. When I've tried to explain to them that people are seen in order of severity, several times I have heard the comment "I don't care about them." sad.

Factor in peple who call 911 to get an ambulance for toothaches, or a cold they've had for two weeks and you've got more fuel for the fire. When people call for an ambulance that they don't need, the mentality is they'll be seen quicker if they are wheeled into the ER by stretcher when the reality is that they just bought a high dollar taxi ride to the ER on top of the ER bill. Sure, they'll get into the ER quicker...until they are triaged and sent to the waiting room...adding to the problem. The abuse of the system is all across the board. Three words...URGENT CARE CENTERS! Most every town or city has at least one!

Emergency overload
HUM-
The problem with the ER is that people go to the ER for non-emergent issues ie: I was in the ER with my daughter who broke her foot (an emergency) and in the next room, we were separated by a curtain, the doctor said, "So what brings you here." The woman says, "I haven't had a period in 3 months." WHAT??? Since when is missing a period, for three months, an emergency. While she had her pregnancy test, perhaps someone was actually waiting to be seen for a REAL emergency.
I was in the ER with my son who had cellulitis, he is immune deficient so ANY infection can be life-threatening. So as I wait to see the ER doc a man goes back to triage with a complaint of, "When I eat I get dizzy." EXCUSE ME? And the real kicker is that this man was a 'frequent flyer' cause the triage nurse said, remind me again what your allergies are? And he was on medicare/ medicaid. Not that that's a bad thing, but the problem is that people who use this insurance are more likely to go to the ER because they know it's paid for.
The two sinerios I mentioned above are the exact reason we have family docs. And yea if you have a cold or something and have to wait a day to see him/ her suck it up and deal with it. Just don't go to th eER for it.

To Obama Supporter: Your hateful comments about "Joe the Plmber" are unwarrented and divisive. You are a perfect example of what the media wants. Joe has a right to his political opinion just as you do. The difference between the two of you is he is doing his with class and you are not. Name caslling achieves nothing but more devisiveness in our country. Joe is accused of running a red light. He got a ticket via mail because an electronic switch was triggered and everyone in the intersection got a ticket. Joe may have been in fron of the trigger car. Such a ticket can be beaten if taken to court. You too may become a similar victim. So let Joe have his opinion and you have yours. Just stop the immature name calling.

To the Obama Savior and other name calling clowns, your attitude and comments are helping the media divide our country. Joe the Plumber has a right to his opinion regarding Candidate Obama's political theories, regardless of his driving recoird. You accept ADOT's premise that "Joe" is guilty of an electronic issued ticket. In fact, he may be a victim of a system that can easily be beaten if the victim/offender takes it to a court. I suggest you not mix apples and oranges and stop your name calling. That achieves nothing.

Your information does not represent the majority of the hospitals. I know of at least 8 ERs in the State of Florida that the overcrowding is due to the Medicaid and non insured coming to the ER for "free care". They come for sniffles, "back pain for 11 years", medication refills and othercomplaints that are non urgent. They come because the doctors offices are collecting money up front before they are seen. Or they are being told what they are expected to pay when they make the appointment.

There is also those that come for all of their care. When you ask them their doctor, they say, "Dr. ______" who is an emergency room doctor only.

Your inforation is way off base.

Dr. Newton is right that ER overcrowding poses a serious problem for the nation???s health care system. CDC data indicates that common complaints like abdominal and chest pain, fever and cough account for nearly one-fifth of all ER visits.

Most Medicaid members aren???t being seen by primary care physicians due to logistical issues, not necessarily because they can???t get an appointment. Additionally, going to a primary care physician helps members to receive the attention and care they need to manage and/or prevent chronic diseases that drive up long-term health care costs nationally and ultimately cause them to seek the ER.

We have used community outreach methods to implement programs that proactively reach out to members to help them arrange doctor appointments, understand benefits and provide free transportation and child care thereby removing the obstacles that steer members toward the ER. The program is currently available in California, West Virginia, Texas, Kansas and Indiana. In two and a half months, emergency room visits at an Indiana hospital dropped nine percent, and members reported feeling more empowered over decisions related to their health care. There are solutions, and we are actively working with states to reduce overcrowding and improve the quality of patient care.

Kevin Hayden
President, State Sponsored Business
WellPoint, Inc.

Newton is exactly right that ???playing the blame game??? gets us nowhere. There are few easy answers beyond a concerted group effort to make a change. Here???s one angle that many patients and care recipients may not be aware of though --- there actually are solutions such as RFID technology, asset tracking and data management tools available today can help hospitals gather intelligence on their typical patient flow and proactively predict who???s going to show up, and what their medical need will be ??? before they ever walk in the door. It puts ERs far ahead of where they are today in terms of managing resources to help solve ER overcrowding. We???re installing these types of technologies in pro-active ERs and hospitals around the country, but there???s still a long way to go before enough take advantage to really avert this nationwide problem. Regardless of the election results or where our financial crisis goes, these are must-have technologies for ER right now.

David Gulian
President and CEO of InfoLogix
www.infologix.com

Sadlyl, Mary Carmichael must have spent ALL OF twenty minutes "researching" this lame excuse of an "exclusive". THE only thing exclusive about this piece of bovine excrement is the complete lack of intellectual curiosity or pursuit by the "author".

Note to Newsweek: Is This The Best You Have????
Ever wonder why most would not spend a dime to buy your tabloid????

It sounds to me that we need more physicians and nurses. It is a shame that some states don't allow AF Medics to challenge the LVN/LPN board. We could be out there working and helping the medical community there are 20 AF reservists that I know that would love to do patient care but our state won't let us challenge the board. What a shame...

Decent article, but you left out another very important factor.
Doctors (such as primary care) are sending patients directly to the emergency room themselves. This has happened to several people I know for a variety of problems that aren't necessarily emergencies, but the doctors didn't have to time to figure out what it was, or to see their patients.

With the Baby Boom generation coming of age, plus our nation's tough economic times complicated by a whopping 46 million uninsured Americans with fewer Primary Care physicians to care for them, you get ER overcrowding. This is just one of many reasons why Americans are demanding better health care benefits from their employers and/or an affordable goverment subsidized health plan option in order to keep themselves and their families healthy , so that they can work and be productive in the workplace. Without your health you pretty got nothing. Dur to the greed and corruption of Corporate America, we can no longer just rely on businesses to be the sole main providers of our hardworking American families health benefits. If these CEOs can't even maintain their own financial stability, how can we place all our trust in them to oversee our pension, 401K , and other benefits such as health insurance. The ECONOMY and HEALTHCARE GO HAND IN HAND. Only in the healthcare industry (ie American ERs) can someone show up in dire straights and be treated by doctors and nurses without them having confirmed that the person can actually pay for all the medical care they receive. Our nation's healthcare system has simply allowed these hospitals to eat these costs or allow those hospitals in impoverished areas get so overwhlemed by nonpaying patients or low reimbursable state public aid patients until they can no longer cover operating costs (ie, employee salaries, medical supplies, medications, utilities, malpractice insurance premiums etc...) and the hospital goes bankrupt , then shuttered, leaving the community with having to drive father to get to the nearest ER...Essentially, health care has become a business. It can either go totally unregulated, or itn certain cases it can be properly overseen by the government to ensure that it is serving in the best interests of our nation's health, and not merely in the best interests of our nation's HMOs CEOs My God, our govenment already runs VA and government subsidized hospitals all across America for the uninsured, is it so morally wrong to provide an affordable health insurance plan individulals and families in need CAN PURCHASE???DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ABOUT THE UNREGULATED INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND THE WAY THEY HAVE JACKED UP PREMIUMS ON MALPRACTICE INSURANCE. STARTING TO SEE THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF DEREGULATION!!! McCAIN said YES to 26 years of deregulation, and look where it's gotten us. If we want serious change then vote for Obama-Biden in 2008! God Bless America.

One big problem is that everyone is trying to make a buck with the medical system. Maybe we should nationalize certain industries. Medical supplies, military equipment, etc... People are getting rich off of the things that we require. It damages the community and nation all for the benefit of a few.

It seems like one problem is the lack of nurses and doctors. Considering the insurance cost and education cost most just don't see the medical profession as a beneficial occupation. We need to increase the capabilities for educational institutions while reducing the cost of education and insurance. As the population expands the need for doctors increases yet the numbers of active medical doctors are decreasing. Yet you still wonder why the ones in operation are so overwhelmed.