Boston residents might be interested to learn that according to a report by the 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medicare Survey, written for the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2006 there were 119.2 million visits to hospital emergency departments, or 40.5 visits per 100 persons, continuing a long-term rise in both indices. The rate of visits per 100 persons was 36.1 for white persons, 79.9 for black persons, and 35.3 for Hispanic persons.
Emergency Department occupancy (the count of patients who had arrived, but not yet discharged, transferred, or admitted) varied from 19,000 patients at 6
a.m. to 58,000 at 7 p.m. on an average day nationally. Though overall Emergency Department visits increased, the number of visits considered emergent or urgent (15.9 million) did not change significantly from 2005, nor did the number of patients arriving by ambulance (18.4 million). At 3.6 percent of visits, the patient had been seen in the same Emergency Department within the previous 72 hours. Median time to see a clinician was 31 minutes. Of all Emergency Department visits, 35.6 percent were for a Boston personal injury. Patients had computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging at 12.1 percent of visits, blood drawn at 38.8 percent, an intravenous line started at 24.0 percent, an x ray performed at 34.9 percent, and an electrocardiogram done at 17.1 percent. Patients were admitted to the hospital at 12.8 percent of Emergency Department visits in 2006. The Emergency Department was the portal of admission for 50.2 percent of all nonobstetric admissions in the United States in 2006, an increase from 36.0 percent in 1996. Patients were admitted to an intensive care unit at 1.9 percent of visits.
If you find yourself needing to visit an Emergency Department for an accident that is the result of someone else's negligence, contact Bellotti Law Group, P.C.
