Emergency Department Capacity Not Keeping Up With Demand in California

WEDNESDAY, June 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Emergency department capacity in California did not proportionally expand with the demand for emergency services from 2011 to 2021, according to a study published online June 22 in JAMA Network Open.

Renee Y. Hsia, M.D., from University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues used emergency department data from more than 400 general acute care hospitals in California between 2011 and 2021 to assess if the supply of acute care resources kept up with the demand.

The researchers found that from 2011 to 2019, the annual number of emergency department visits increased 23.4 percent before decreasing 13 percent in 2021, with an overall increase in emergency department visits over the study period of 7.4 percent. Emergency department visits followed population trends in the state. The total number of emergency departments decreased 3.8 percent over the study period while the total number of hospital beds decreased 2.5 percent. However, the number of emergency department treatment stations in these fewer emergency departments increased 21.1 percent. The number of visits rated as severe with threat increased 67.8 percent, while visits rated as minor decreased 63.2 percent.

"These findings suggest that, although some mixed results were present, emergency department capacity has not proportionally expanded with the increasing California population and demand for emergency services, offering one potential explanation for increases in emergency department crowding," the authors write.

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