Market-based Solution #1

In our recent newsletter (you can subscribe here) we addressed two market-based solutions that are helping to bring down the cost of health care.

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Of the 119 million visits to hospital ERs in a
given year, 55% are for nonemergencies.
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We have talked about this before, but Americans need to be smart about when and where we go for medical care. We all know that hospital emergency rooms (ER) are not effective or efficient for non-emergency situations. However a recent study by the National Center for Policy Analysis found that often

"the ER is the only way to reach a physician after hours. As a result, patients overuse emergency rooms: Of the 119 million visits to hospital ERs in a given year, 55% are for nonemergencies. A 2006 survey of California hospitals found that nearly half of ER patients (46%) thought they could have resolved their medical problem with a visit to their primary care physician, but were unable to obtain timely access."

Market-based solution: Urgent-care clinics and the newer retail clinics that are starting to appear in drug stores and big-box retailers.