The study, based on results from over 900 hospitals, found that the overall death rate in ERs was 4.7 percent, meaning that most patients survived their injuries; however, insured patients had a rate of 3.3 percent, whereas for uninsured patients, the rate jumped to 5.7, before adjustments for risk factors, according to the report.
When adjusted for age, race, gender and severity of injuries, uninsured patients were still 80 percent more likely to die from their injuries than insured counterparts, according to the report.
Reasons for these results include delays uninsured patients may experience in being transferred from hospital to hospital, a potential difference in the level of cared uninsured patients receive or difficulty in communicating with physicians. The study also noted that hospitals that treated uninsured patients may have a lack of resources. Hospitals are also more likely to transfer uninsured patients once they are stable than those with insurance.
The study reviewed data on 69,000 patients in U.S. hospitals from 2002 through 2006, and the data did not include burn patients, patients that were treated and release or patients that were dead on arrival, according to the report.
Read the Post’s report on the Harvard uninsured ER patient study.
