Urgent Care Physicians Affected By Healthcare Reform
By: Cory Ellerd
Submitted: 2010-04-12 15:27:32 | Word Count: 809
Emergency Medicine Review
As the citizens of the US get older, the need for Emergency and Emergency medicine also grows. The present physician deficiency in the U.S. is expected to get worse over time. Other issues are amplifying this shortfall as well, including the lessening economy and the recently approved health care reform.
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Primary Care Shortage leads to E.R. Physician shortage
According to a press release by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Emergency care physicians will have a lot of work on hand from Medicare, but they may not wish for it. Medicare has rates that have less than desirable fees than private insurance so General Care physicians are probably less likely to take on new Medicaid patients. As a consequence, up to a third of all Medicare patients may not be able to find a Primary Care doctors at all and may in the end be turning to Emergency care care as a last choice.
Some areas are hit harder than others by these these statistics, such as Arizona. In some areas of the sandy state, Primary Care physician-to-patient ratio is less than six physicians per 10,000 individuals, according to a study by St. Lukes. The result of many more people not having access to primary care will be a greater use of Emergency Room and Urgent Care clinics. Naturally, Emergency and Urgent Care physicians are going to have their workloads full if this trend isn't properly solved.
Weakened Economy results in Crowded Clinics
As the failing economy runs its track; many people are findg they are without availability and affordability to health benefits. Insurance policies are being terminated due to non-payment at an rapid rate, and citizens receiving (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) coverage are also running out of options. With time running out on affordable healthcare, many people have resolved they must do without appropriate preventative healthcare. As you might predict, when the severity of the malady can no longer be deferred with rest and home remedies, and starts to significantly interfere with daily activities, the emergency room may be the only remaining place to turn to. Through the stock market crash, the housing bust, and record breaking unemployment records, emergency rooms and Urgent Care clinics are filling up faster than ever.
Baby Boomers in the ER
Another issue in the insurgence of Urgent Care cases in the United States is due to another socioeconomic group that cannot be ignored. The baby boomers will account for an exorbitant increase of the 65 and older demographic. This group statistically requires considerably more assets, personnel, specialists, and physician care. They need hospital and Emergency services more and more often than any other age group.
Can Health Care Reform Solve ER problems?
Whether the healthcare reform will hinder us or not is neither here nor there. While it has voted on and been signed into law, the main changes are not set to go into full effect until 2014. The repercussions of said reform may not be fully understood for years after that. Emergency Medicine clinics overfilling is a significant problem, given the growing number of elderly patients, uninsured patients, and underinsured patients. If the insurance coverage reform doesn't fix the problems it promises, then the troubles cannot be anticipated to get better. ER overcrowding is no new problem. What the health reform should address is the loss of ER facilities. Between 1993 and 2003, the United States lost over four hundred Emergency Medicine facilities. What can uninsured patients do? Besides hoping that an ambulance can get them or their loved ones to a closely located ER facility in time, they can do very little. In that same period, Emergency room visits exponentially increased by over a quarter. Doctors in these predicaments will unquestionably have their workload cut out for them.
Even with the healthcare reform finally signed into law its result on our health insurance programs is not known. By 2014 their will be an increase in intensity in the enrollment into health insurance programs. This increase when, combined with the long term aging of the population, should push demand for services and therefore cost higher. However, no one yet knows what will happen to reimbursement rates from Medicare and this new program. The issue is will there be rate a cut of reimbursement rates for different specialties by Medicare and this new program that may conversely become a issue decreasing the pay of all specialties including Emergency Medicine & Urgent Care, and related specialties / subspecialties.
