Texas Urgent Care Doctors Affected By Healthcare Reform
By: Cory Ellerd
Submitted: 2010-04-21 12:46:36 | Word Count: 941
Emergency Care Review
As the citizens of the US get older, the need for Emergency and Urgent care also grows. The current physician shortage in the United States is expected to go downhill over time. Other issues are encouraging this shortfall as well, including the dwindling economy and the recently signed into law health care reform. As is the case elsewhere in the country, Emergency Medicine in Texas is undergoing many of the same hardships as other specialties. For many of the 2500+ Texas emergency physicians the future is uncertain. Of those two-thousand five hundred plus physicians, 2316 are M.D.'s and 323 are D.O.'s. While there may be some differences in training, both M.D.'s and D.O.'s are equally accredited and eligible to become an Emergency Medicine physician. An Emergency Medicine physician typically has at least 10-12 years of education including a B.A. (undergraduate) in a health related or science related field, a medical doctorate (graduate, M.D. or D.O.), and an accredited Emergency Medicine residency (post-graduate).
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Primary Care Shortage leads to E.R. Physician shortage
According to a media release by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Emergency medicine physicians will have plenty of work available from Medicare, but they may not like it. Medicare remunerates less desirable fees than private insurance so General Care physicians are probably not as likely to take on new Medicare patients. As an end result, up to a third of all Medicare patients may not be able to find a General Care doctors at all and may in the end be turning to Urgent care care as a last choice.
Some locations are hit harder than others by these these statistics, such as Arizona. In some areas of the sandy state, Primary Care doctor-to-citizen ratio is less than six doctors per ten thousand residents, according to a study by St. Lukes. The result of many more individuals not having access to general care will be an increased use of Emergency Room and Urgent Care Emergency rooms. Naturally, Emergency and Urgent Care physicians are going to have their hands full if this trend goes without a solution for much longer.
Weakened Economy results in Crowded Clinics
As the weakening economy runs its track; many patients are losing availability and affordability to health benefits. Insurance policies are being terminated due to non-payment at an alarming rate, and citizens receiving (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) coverage are also running out of options. With the axe coming down on reasonable healthcare, many individuals have decided they must do without proper preventative healthcare. As you might expect, when the level of the condition can no longer be quelled with rest and home remedies, and starts to significantly interfere with daily routines, the emergency room may be the final 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 Emergency Medicine and Urgent Care incidents in the United States is due to another socioeconomic group that cannot be ignored. The baby boomers will result in an exponential increase of the 65 and older demographic. This group statistically requires considerably more assets, personnel, specialists, and physician care. They need hospital and Emergency room services more and more often than any other age group.
Can Health Care Reform Solve ER problems?
Whether the health reform will decimate us or not is neither here nor there. Although it has approved and been signed into law, the main changes are not set to go into full effect until 2014. The repercussions of the current reform may not be fully seen for years after that. Urgent Care institutions overfilling is a deep problem, given the growing number of geriatric patients, uninsured patients, and underinsured patients. If the health care reform doesn't address the problems it promises, then the problems cannot be expected to get better. Emergency room overcrowding is no unforseen matter. What the health insurance reform should attend to is the loss of emergency room facilities. Between 1993 and 2003, the United States lost over four hundred Urgent Care facilities. What can uninsured patients do? Besides hoping that an ambulance can get them or their loved ones to an Emergency Medicine clinic in time, they can't do much. In that same period, Emergency Clinic visits greatly increased by over a quarter. Doctors in these scenarios will absolutely have their caseload cut out for them.
Even with the healthcare reform after all signed into law its effect on our insurance programs is not known. By 2014 their will be an expansion in the enrollment into health insurance programs. This exansion 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 inquiry 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 Urgent Care, and related specialties / subspecialties.
