Who really goes to the emergency room?
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- October
- 23
When you think of the “typical” patient who comes through the revolving doors of the hospital emergency department certain images and stereotypes come to mind. Poor, uninsured, undocumented immigrants, right? Be honest. We think that people who don’t have regular doctors go to the emergency room with relatively minor complaints, right?
Well those perceptions are wrong, according to a new, comprehensive study of who is actually using the emergency room.
The uninsured do not make up a disproportionate share of emergency department patients because they are the only group that faces the full cost of care, the study suggests. Researchers from the University of Michigan based their findings on 127 medical research papers. The study was published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
To read a full story on the topic written by Julie Appleby of USA Today, click HERE.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm by Candice Ferrette. 
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