Emergency room visits are on the rise, according to three-quarters of the 2,098 emergency room physicians who participated in an American College of Emergency Physicians poll.
More specifically, 47 percent of surveyed physicians said that since Jan. 1, 2014, they have noticed a slight increase in the volume of ER patients, and 28 percent noticed the volume "increased greatly." Just 5 percent said the volume has decreased slightly, and none said it had decreased greatly.
This increase is in spite of the fact that many believed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would decrease patient volumes in the ER.
"There was a grand theory the law would reduce ER visits," Howard Mell, MD, a spokesperson for ACEP, told the Wall Street Journal. "Well, guess what, it hasn't happened. Visits are going up despite the ACA, and in a lot of cases because of it."
Take, for instance, Medicaid visits to the ER. More than half of emergency physicians reported the volume of Medicaid patients has increased either slightly or greatly since January 2014.
"There is strong evidence that Medicaid access to primary care and specialty care is not timely, leaving Medicaid patients with few options other than the emergency department," said Orlee Panitch, MD, chair of the Emergency Medicine Action Fund.
The survey also revealed that emergency physicians are treating more severely injured and ill patients — 44 percent reported that acuity of illness or injury has slightly or significantly increased in their ER.