From the Business Journal:
Emergency room directors across the Triad say the tight economy is causing their waiting rooms to swell even more than they predicted earlier this year.
Hospitals, already strained by dwindling insurance reimbursements and rising costs, are trying to develop new ways to deal with those patients — about a quarter of which will never be able to pay — by fast-tracking cases that aren’t true emergencies.
The ERs at nearly every area hospital have seen steady increases in the number of patients in recent years, with a rise of about 3 percent annually.
This year, the growth rate has more than doubled or tripled at some hospitals as patients lose their employer-sponsored health insurance or delay treatment until manageable conditions require a more intense, immediate and expensive course of action.
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