An article in Slate, Waiting Doom: How hospitals are killing E.R. patients, explains how long emergency room wait times are often to the hospital’s financial advantage:
The first source [of patients] is [the ones] who come in through direct and transfer admissions. They are more likely to come with private insurance and need procedural care, both of which maximize profits. The second source is E.R. patients, who are more likely to be uninsured or have pittance-paying Medicaid and less likely to need high-margin procedures. Do the math: If you fill your hospital with the direct and transfer admissions and maroon the E.R. patients for long periods, you make more money.
Yet another side-effect of America’s sick health care situation.
(via Eliot Gelwan’s blog Follow Me Here…)