Topics
Emergency Room

Asthma is the most common chronic condition among children in the U.S. and one of the leading reasons for pediatric emergency room (ER) visits. Schools play an important role in managing asthma among children since kids spend most of their time in school and school buildings may have environmental factors such as poor air quality and mold which can trigger asthma flare-ups. When asthma is uncontro...

A recent KHN article reported on the growing presence of "obstetric emergency departments" (OBEDs) in U.S. hospitals. Hospitals suggest that OBEDs, which are generally located within labor and delivery departments and often indistinguishable from standard triage rooms, allow pregnant patients with potential emergent conditions (or when they are in labor) to be seen quickly by hospitalists. Pa...

Introduction Excessive emergency room (ER) spending and utilization have long been major areas of focus for health care stakeholders. The ER is an important source of health care for many individuals, especially those who lack a usual source of care, or those with work schedules that limit the ability to access care during "normal business hours." But an ER visit can be extremely expensive, and pa...

Air ambulances are either fixed wing (airplane) or rotary wing (helicopter) aircraft used to transport people in often time-sensitive medical situations. Air ambulances have become a frequent topic in the news due to their high cost and propensity to lead to surprise bills. Our analysis shows that although air ambulances are not frequently used and their use declined over the 2008 to 2017 period, ...

HCCI often reports the prices of health care services, defined as the average amount a provider is paid for a given service based on negotiations with health care insurers. These prices typically represent a portion of charges, which are the amounts health care providers bill for the procedures they perform. The charge amount is often the starting point for negotiations between insurers and provid...

HCCI recently expanded its reporting on emergency room (ER) spending trends to include the most recent data available (2016). We characterize trends in spending, price, and utilization for the five Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes designed to capture the level of severity and complexity of every ER visit. While average prices for all five ER CPT codes were higher in 2016 than in 2009, th...

Medical bills from the Emergency Room (ER) are a mystery to many patients in the US health system. From incredibly high, varying charges to surprise bills resulting from in/out of network confusion, many Americans have no idea what to expect when it comes to the cost of this necessary service. Recently, Vox reporter, Sarah Kliff, has begun collecting ER bills in an attempt to "bring transparency t...