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EDs Offer 24-Hour Entrance Hospital emergency departments also provide a major source of health care for Ohio’s uninsured, who have limited access to other sources of health care services. Lack of insurance often brings patients to hospital EDs looking for basic services that could be provided less expensively and more efficiently in other settings. Emergency rooms saw 933,000 visits from patients without insurance coverage in 2006 and only 8 percent were serious enough to be given an observation bed or admitted to the hospital. But even those patients who were not admitted needed medical care – care they may not have received without an always-available hospital ED that treats emergencies first and considers payment later. Though the emergency room often functions as a source of primary health care services for the uninsured, many Ohioans without insurance bring very serious medical conditions to the ED and ultimately require an inpatient stay at the hospital. In fact, the emergency room door is the primary entrance for uninsured patients. Sixty percent of the uninsured patients admitted by Ohio hospitals in 2006 came in through the emergency room, compared to only 34 percent of insured patients, and these numbers have remained consistent over the past several years. Fearing the expense of a visit to the doctor or dentist, these uninsured patients likely waited to seek care until their condition worsened and ultimately landed them in the emergency room.
Health Care Coverage Snapshot This gap is widening as hospitals continue to feel the negative effects of state-level reimbursement rates that have been frozen since 2005. At the same time, the slow economy and growing number of unemployed are adding to the number of Ohioans relying on the Medicaid program for health care services. Last year, OHA published the first statewide hospital community benefit report detailing not only the total amount Ohio’s hospitals absorbed in Medicaid losses in 2005 ($320.8 million) but also the free care provided to patients unable to pay ($816 million) and the value of hospitals’ community activities (more than $887 million). OHA and the state’s hospitals are currently compiling 2006 data for a new report to be released in June. This publication – combined with the community benefit reports released by individual hospitals and health systems statewide – helps hospitals educate and be accountable to their communities. The 2008 statewide report will take a closer look at not only the 34 million times an Ohioan visited a hospital, but the many ways hospitals take steps out into their communities to make Ohio a healthier place.
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