Report outlines trends, differences between rural and non-rural hospital emergency departments

Is your hospital having trouble with its emergency room? A statistical brief by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality could provide grist and background for a story, because it reveals some trends and differences between rural and non-rural emergency departments.

Emergency visits have increased in recent years, but reimbursement for emergency care by insurers has decreased, Anika Hines, Taressa Fraze, and Carol Stocks report. "These challenges are magnified in rural areas, which typically have fewer health-care resources, including medical staff, facilities, adequate financing, and modern technologies."

The brief reports only 2.4 percent of rural emergency departments had trauma level designations in 2008, while 35.5 percent of non-rural emergency departments housed a Level I, II, or III trauma center. The brief also identifies hospital ownership and "critical access hospital" certification as significant differences among rural and non-rural hospitals. To see the entire brief including tables on hospital and patient characteristics and the top conditions for rural and non-rural emergency room patients, click here.