Emergency Care Less Available

Anyone who has ever had to wait in an emergency room knows that the experience can be extremely frustrating. Wait times in most ERs around the country have become interminable. This situation is only getting worse, especially in urban areas.
A new study in reports that while the overall need for emergency services has risen, the number of emergency departments has been decreasing at an alarming rate. Two decades ago there were nearly 2,500 hospitals with emergency departments. Now there are less than 1,800, a 27 percent decline. This comes at a time when ER visits have increased by nearly 35 percent.
[JAMA, May 18, 2011]