- The number of emergency room visits has risen by 11% in he past five years.
- The number of emergency departments (based from article for the state of Pennsylvania) has shrunk by 10%.
- An estimated 8% of emergency room visits across the country are for problems that could be handled at a walk-in clinic or primary care facility (statistic based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention).
- A growing number of visits to the emergency room are from problems such as sprained ankles, coughs & colds.
- The EMTALA (The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) passed in 1986 states that hospitals are required to administer medical screening examination to any patient to comes to the emergency room.
- Many hospitals collect a fee or co-pay for services provided for non-emergency care in the emergency room.
- Some hospitals may even have an on-site urgent care clinic that they can send the emergency room patients who do not need care in the emergency room - upon doing this they can free up space in the emergency room and treat sicker patients faster.
For the full article, please click the following link: Emergency Room Patients Across Country Paying Upfront For Non-Urgent Care
For additional billing and coding resources, please click the following link: Medical Reimbursement Billing and Coding Resources