ER visits, costs in Mass. climb
Boston Globe, April 24, 2009
By: Liz Kowalczyk
More people are seeking care in hospital emergency rooms, and the cost of caring for ER patients has soared 17 percent over two years, despite efforts to direct patients with nonurgent problems to primary care doctors instead, according to new state data.
Visits to Massachusetts emergency rooms grew 7 percent between 2005 and 2007, to 2,469,295 visits. The estimated cost of treating those patients - including salaries for caregivers, tests such as X-rays and CT scans, and medicines - jumped from $826 million to $973 million, according data provided to the Globe.