eds

Study: Uninsured ranks could be much lower

Wed, 14 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

I know, you do everything you can to qualify patients for government programs when they're uninsured and need care. Despite that, uninsured patients continue to generate high bad debt levels for providers; in fact, according to the American Hospital Association, the industry provided $31.2 billion in uncompensated care in 2006.

Millions of patients are slipping through screens designed to hook patients up with government programs, according to research by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation. For example, one in four who are eligible for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program aren't enrolled, a total of about 12 million people.

Of course, the problem doesn't lie just with the provider's eligibility screening process. Often, the uninsured are overwhelmed by the administrative requirements involved in applying for such programs, while current enrollees frequently are dropped when they don't fill out renewal forms. Meanwhile, a 2005 law requiring applicants to show proof of citizenship to be eligible has also led to delays in enrollment for many citizens, foundation researchers said.

To learn more about the report:
- read this InsideARM article

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SPOTLIGHT: Safety net EDs work to limit nonemergency care

Wed, 14 May 2008 06:59:52 -0400

As emergency departments with safety net hospitals continue to see more non-emergent patients, many are working harder to redirect patients to more appropriate channels of care, such as outpatient clinics and community health centers. Such strategies can do much to help EDs avoid needlessly taking on care for the uninsured, while helping patients receive better treatment for their needs, notes a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change. Article

Study: OR Medicaid cuts push up ED visits

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

A new study suggests that at least in Oregon, Medicaid may be helping providers avoid costly emergency department visits by the uninsured. The study, which appears in this month's Annals of Emergency Medicine, found that ED visits by the state's uninsured saw an "abrupt and sustained" climb when it cut more than 50,000 beneficiaries from the Medicaid program. The researchers, who looked at hospital billing data on more than 2.5 million visits to 26 Oregon EDs, looked at data two years after the Medicaid program underwent the cuts. After Medicaid dropped the beneficiaries, ED visits went up noticeably, from 6,682 per month in 2002 to 9,058 per month in 2004.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Annals of Emergency Medicine article (.pdf)
- read this HFMA News item

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