overcrowding

You might recall Friday's Editor's Corner about the plight of ERs across the nation; two FierceHealthcare readers responded with additional thoughts on the causes of the problem and suggestions as to what hospitals could do better to improve the situation. Barry Trask, a senior report analyst with Physician Practice Solutions, points out that ER overcrowding is directly related to the diminishing number …

For some time now, we've been hearing about problems in the nation's emergency departments, but the issue became all too real this week when a woman …

At Waukegan, IL's Vista Medical Center, 49-year-old Beatrice Vance died of a heart attack, after waiting two hours in the center's emergency room. Vance had been seen briefly by a triage nurse but was told to wait. Two hours later she was found dead, and now the hospital could face criminal penalties for failing to provide appropriate care. A coroner has ruled Vance's death a homicide, stating that she died as "a result of gross deviations from the standard of care that a reasonable …

> Sierra Health Services, Nevada's largest insurer, is nearing the end of its contract with three HCA hospitals in Las Vegas. Both sides hope they can renegotiate a contract before time runs out. Article

> In Florida, HCA has started a program to ease ER overcrowding. HCA hospitals will refer non-emergency patients to nearby clinics. Critics say the program will only serve to …

At Hospital Impact, Tony Chen examines the competition hospitals are facing from 10 rather unusual areas. Here are some of the standouts from the list:

• Many patients would like their hospital to treat them like a hotel guest rather than a patient. And some hospitals are eager to provide five-star service.
• U.S. Preventative Medicine is in the process of …

A new study takes on the argument that uninsured patients are a major factor behind emergency room overcrowding. The report, by the American College of Emergency Physicians, finds that the uninsured make up only 15 percent of emergency room visits. The problem, the authors conclude, has more to do with the shortage of hospital beds and changing usage patterns in the healthcare system than it does to do with the uninsured.

The data is leading some observers to argue that the …

An ambulance is diverted about once every minute in the U.S. as a result of emergency room overcrowding, a new study finds. The research, which appeared in this week's issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, is one of the first studies to attempt to assess how common diversions are nationwide. Researchers looked at data from 405 hospital emergency departments nationwide. Catharine Burt of the National Center for Health Statistics is the study's lead author.

- see …

The American College of Emergency Physicians released a report card rating emergency care across the nation on a state-by-state basis. The average grade was a C-minus. ACEP, which is releasing the report in Washington today, concludes that the quality gap is a result of a number of problems including severe overcrowding, the staffing shortage, ambulance diversions, and other factors, including the growing number of uninsured Americans. No state in the nation received an "A." California, …