USA Today examines stand-alone emergency departments

USA Today on Friday examined the increasing number of stand-alone emergency departments, which have "spurred questions about their limited services, their ability to decrease the overall burden for area hospitals and their impact on health care spending."

The number of such centers increased from 146 to 179, or by 23%, from 2005 to 2006, according to the American Hospital Association. About a dozen more are in planning stages. The free-standing centers are open 24 hours a day and often offer shorter wait times than hospital-based EDs.

According to USA Today, the centers, which are staffed by physicians and nurses, "offer convenience to patients and can ease overcrowding in nearby hospital" EDs. However, Jim Unland, a health care consultant, said that the centers can siphon off patients with minor ailments from urgent care centers or physician offices, which can increase costs for insurers and consumers. In addition, some ambulances will not take critically ill patients to stand-alone EDs because they might not have the equipment or ability to treat some conditions, which would delay care while a person is transported to a hospital. Some ambulances will not take any patients to stand-alone EDs.

Robert Jepson -- associate vice president of Adventist HealthCare, which owns a stand-alone ED in Germantown, Md. -- said that the centers provide the same level of care given at hospital EDs and can handle almost all emergencies. He said that they can quickly stabilize patients and then transport them to hospitals for further treatment if necessary (Appleby, USA Today, 4/25).