ER visits for injuries falls

Emergency rooms are dealing less with their traditional role of treating injuries and more with complex diagnoses, according to a new study in the journal Health Affairs. 

{mosads}Researchers analyzed emergency room visits in California hospitals from 2005 to 2011. Over that period, visits for injuries decreased by 0.7 percent. In contrast, visits for non-injuries rose by 13.4 percent.

The study cited non-injury problems such as abdominal pain, nervous system disorders, gastrointestinal disease, and mental illness.

Dr. Renee Hsia, a professor at UC San Francisco, and her co-authors wrote that the trend reflects the changing nature of emergency rooms. 

“These trends point out the increasing importance of EDs in providing care for complex medical cases, as well as the changing nature of illness in the population needing immediate medical attention,” they wrote.

More recently, the Obama administration has touted that ObamaCare’s coverage expansion has reduced the number of people showing up at emergency rooms without the ability to pay. 

The administration said last month that the expansion of Medicaid under the law and a drop in emergency room visits had saved hospitals $7.4 billion over the last year. 

Nearly 70 percent of those savings came from states that have expanded the eligibility for Medicaid under ObamaCare. The 28 states with Medicaid expansions saved a total of $5 billion last year, compared to the $2.4 billion saved in states that did not expand the program.