ED Use Might Go Up Under ACA

According to this article in Medpage Today, the author states that a study shows emergency department (ED) use could surge under ACA. This increase will happen under both the newly insured and those insured under Medicaid.


Causing some of this will be the shortage of primary care physicians and many states not accepting NPs, PAs, and Pharmacists to work in the primary care field independently.


Increases in California emergency department (ED) use were driven in large part by Medicaid patients. The researchers say this will be a precursor to increased burdens after the Affordable Care Act kicks in completely.


Many patients who will soon be insured under the ACA will be enrolled in Medicaid. While these people are generally healthier than current Medicaid enrollees, they may introduce a new and additional burden to treat undiagnosed and uncontrolled conditions.


“These costs may represent a bigger picture of burdens on acute care across the U.S. under expansions to Medicaid under the ACA, according to David Howard, PhD, at the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta.”


“James McCarthy, MD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, noted that additional healthcare burdens imposed by the ACA "will result in increased ED utilization in many markets because of inadequate primary care infrastructures to support the population."”


These two individuals that were not part of the study, state the problems patients will face under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is one more reason that I wrote my blog here to warn people about being careful of changing doctors at the present time. You don't want to be without a doctor when the problems start and the newly insured are looking for primary care physicians.