Analysis: Are ERs really ‘overused’?

From UPI

Healthcare reformers say the United States can save a lot of money by reducing unnecessary emergency room visits, but number crunchers are not so sure.
“The concept of ‘inappropriate’ visits is naive,” said Robert Lowe, a researcher at the Center for Policy and Research in Emergency Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.

Two studies released this week found that it is difficult to define what an “unnecessary” or “avoidable” ER visit is, and reducing those visits may not actually save a lot of money.

The conventional healthcare reform wisdom is that people who lack access to primary care put off treatment, develop more expensive conditions, then get expensive treatment in the emergency room. Others go to the emergency room to treat non-emergency conditions like bladder infections or earaches.

As a result, many health reform proposals argue the cost of covering the uninsured will be offset by a reduction in spending on emergency room visits.

But research is mixed on how many emergency room visits are unnecessary, and how many could actually be avoided by increased access to primary care.

One of the studies released this week found that it is even difficult to define what an unnecessary or avoidable visit is.

Helmet saves man when truck runs over his head

From CNN.com

Ryan Lipscomb lived to tell how it felt to have a truck run over his head. “Really strange,” he said.

Lipscomb, 26 of Seattle, suffered a concussion but was otherwise unhurt. He was shaken up, especially after he saw his mangled helmet.

Lipscomb, a graduate student in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was riding down a bike path in Madison on Friday afternoon. As he approached an intersection, he said, he noticed the oncoming delivery truck preparing to make a right turn in front of him.

The truck wasn’t going to stop, Lipscomb said, so he slammed on his brakes, flipping his bike and landing in the street.

A moment later the truck rolled over his head.

“I didn’t see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head,” he told The Capital Times newspaper. “It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head.”

His black helmet was flattened, tread marks visible on the cracked frame.

Lipscomb was taken to a hospital and released about three hours later.

Newsweek Series on ER Crisis

Code Blue in the ER

First Article: On Life Support
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18579368/site/newsweek/
It’s a familiar story: America’s emergency rooms are in crisis. But it’s far worse than you think. How does the ER prepare for a terrorist attack when its medics can barely cope with the routine flow of mayhem on a Saturday night? A worried doctor traveled to Washington to sound the alarms.

Second Article: ‘We’re At Our Breaking Point’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18598633/site/newsweek/
Gunshot wounds. Blood and brain matter. Exhausted nurses, endless wait times—and no end in sight. The only thing scarier than an average Saturday evening in the ER: What if it was forced to close? One night in Atlanta.

Third Article: How to Stop the Bleeding
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18615533/site/newsweek/
Emergency-room health care is in a state of emergency. What the best minds in the medical community prescribe to begin to treat the crisis.