U.S. Facing Dramatic Decline in Number of Emergency Departments, According to Study

A study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that about one-third of U.S. emergency departments closed during a 20-year period ending in 2009.

According to UC-San Francisco researchers who conducted the study, the ED closures predominately affected safety-net hospitals that see a large proportion of low-income patients.

In a California Healthline Special Report by Kelly Wilkinson, experts discussed some of the factors that likely contributed to the recent decline in EDs. The Special Report includes comments from:

Renee Hsia, assistant professor of emergency medicine at UC-San Francisco;
Sandra Schneider, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and president of the American College of Emergency Physicians; and
Caroline Steinberg, vice president of trends analysis at the American Hospital Association (Wilkinson, California Healthline, 6/8).

The complete transcript of this Special Report is available as a PDF.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

<h1>U.S. Facing Dramatic Decline in Number of Emergency Departments, According to Study</h1>
<div>		<time class="posted-on" datetime="2011-06-08T00:00:00-07:00">
			June 8, 2011		</time>
		</div>
<p>A study <a href="http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/19/1978.abstract">recently published</a> in the <i>Journal of the American Medical Association</i> found that about one-third of U.S. emergency departments closed during a 20-year period ending in 2009. </p><p>According to UC-San Francisco researchers who conducted the study, the ED closures predominately affected safety-net hospitals that see a large proportion of low-income patients. </p><p>In a <i>California Healthline </i>Special Report by Kelly Wilkinson, experts discussed some of the factors that likely contributed to the recent decline in EDs. The Special Report includes comments from:</p><ul><li>Renee Hsia, assistant professor of emergency medicine at UC-San Francisco; </li><li>Sandra Schneider, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and president of the American College of Emergency Physicians; and </li><li>Caroline Steinberg, vice president of trends analysis at the American Hospital Association (Wilkinson, <i>California Healthline</i>, 6/8).</li></ul><p>The complete transcript of this Special Report is <a href="https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/06/chlspecialreporttranscript060811.pdf">available as a PDF</a>.</p><ul><li><a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/us-facing-dramatic-decline-in-number-of-emergency-departments-according-to-study/?share=facebook">				Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)				Facebook			</a></li><li><a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/us-facing-dramatic-decline-in-number-of-emergency-departments-according-to-study/?share=linkedin">				Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)				LinkedIn			</a></li><li><a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/us-facing-dramatic-decline-in-number-of-emergency-departments-according-to-study/?share=x">				Click to share on X (Opens in new window)				X			</a></li><li><a href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20U.S.%20Facing%20Dramatic%20Decline%20in%20Number%20of%20Emergency%20Departments%2C%20According%20to%20Study&body=https%3A%2F%2Fcaliforniahealthline.org%2Fnews%2Fus-facing-dramatic-decline-in-number-of-emergency-departments-according-to-study%2F&share=email">				Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)				Email			</a></li><li><a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/us-facing-dramatic-decline-in-number-of-emergency-departments-according-to-study/#print?share=print">				Click to print (Opens in new window)				Print			</a></li><li>				<a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/us-facing-dramatic-decline-in-number-of-emergency-departments-according-to-study/view/republish/">					Republish This Story				</a>			</li></ul><em><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.</em><p><a href="https://californiahealthline.org/morning-briefing/">Subscribe</a> to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.</p>

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