Our emergency waits are in the hours long category. I wound up at the emergency room a couple of years ago. Waited about an hour while watching people. I could see there were only about 3, including me, that actually needed to be there. The rest were up running around, hitting the vending machines, running in and out to smoke. After an hour wait I walked out and went home. Suffered through til the next day and went to my doctor.
We are one of the only counties left that have a county hospital. A few years back my dad wound up there. After awhile I went up to the window and asked how long the wait was. 12 hours. They took my dad in faster because he was older and having problems breathing. We still waited about 3 hours.
I avoid our emergency rooms like the plague.
Rural locations are one of those places where universal care creates an un-suppliable demand. Here in MA with Romneycare, the wait for an initial visit to a PCP has reached about 1 year. I would actually support sort of subsidized medical clinic that would act as a triage. Most of the time a PA or nurse practitioner can handle those cases. In fact 90% of ER cases ARE handled by PAs.
Of course in the city, the Urgent care locations have popped up all over the place. This is mostly due to the major health systems charging a lower co-pay for them vs the ER. In my case, it’s $40 vs $100.
There are reasonable solutions to the problems. But the availability of Medicare care has got to change. And patients need to understand the definition of emergency, and they have to understand there is a responsibility for undersatanding their chronic diseases and how they drive this process.
Rural locations are one of those places where universal care creates an un-suppliable demand. Here in MA with Romneycare, the wait for an initial visit to a PCP has reached about 1 year. I would actually support sort of subsidized medical clinic that would act as a triage. Most of the time a PA or nurse practitioner can handle those cases. In fact 90% of ER cases ARE handled by PAs.
Of course in the city, the Urgent care locations have popped up all over the place. This is mostly due to the major health systems charging a lower co-pay for them vs the ER. In my case, it’s $40 vs $100.
There are reasonable solutions to the problems. But the availability of Medicare care has got to change. And patients need to understand the definition of emergency, and they have to understand there is a responsibility for undersatanding their chronic diseases and how they drive this process.