ERs shown to generate healthy profit for hospitals. (Up Front).For years, hospital executives have complained about the money they lose in their emergency rooms, especially Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , where there are legions of uninsured patients who by law must be treated. But a new study finds that the units are moneymakers that more than make up their standalone stand·a·lone adj. Self-contained and usually independently operating: a standalone computer terminal. losses through the inpatient inpatient /in·pa·tient/ (in´pa-shent) a patient who comes to a hospital or other health care facility for diagnosis or treatment that requires an overnight stay. in·pa·tient n. admissions they generate. "To understand the economic contributions and costs of emergency departments, they must be evaluated in the context of a hospital's overall operations," said Glenn Melnick, director of by the USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. Center for Health Financing, Policy and Management, which conducted the study. The center examined emergency room departments at 245 hospitals statewide, using a new statistical accounting method to capture both the costs and revenues of the units, and came up with some surprising results. Using the new method--as opposed to traditional accounting used for state regulators--researchers found that emergency rooms lost an average of $84 for every patient treated and discharged in 2002. But that loss was more than made up by an average profit of $1,220 for every admission they generated. And the departments are significant and growing generators of admissions. In 1990, 13.5 percent of patients visiting emergency rooms were admitted, accounting for 31 percent of all admissions. But by 1998, 14.7 percent of ER patients were admitted, accounting for 38 percent of admissions. All told, emergency rooms contributed $131.4 million out of $657 million in total hospital profits in 1998, the last year comprehensive data was available, or about 20 percent of the bottom line. The 2002 figures cited in the report were inflation-adjusted from 1998. Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Healthcare Association of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , a hospital industry trade group, said that while the study indicates that emergency room units are "loss leaders," it does not contradict con·tra·dict v. con·tra·dict·ed, con·tra·dict·ing, con·tra·dicts v.tr. 1. To assert or express the opposite of (a statement). 2. To deny the statement of. See Synonyms at deny. the assertion (programming) assertion - 1. An expression which, if false, indicates an error. Assertions are used for debugging by catching can't happen errors. 2. In logic programming, a new fact or rule added to the database by the program at run time. that rising numbers of uninsured are hurting profitability. "Only 51 percent of the hospitals are making money on an operating basis," Lott said. The study also did not include hospitals with trauma units, which treat accident victims, gunshot wounds and other major injuries, because of their more complex financing structure. The study was one of a series funded by the California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). HealthCare Foundation, which is examining the state's emergency rooms. |
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