As number of ED visits rises, more EDs close

The number of emergency departments in metropolitan and suburban areas fell 27 percent between 1990 and 2009, while the number of emergency department visits skyrocketed from 89 million to 127 million in the same time period, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  The closures were not limited to a single region, but seemed to be consistent across the country, reports Bloomberg. The Federation of American Hospitals, a Washington, DC-based trade group for investor-owned hospitals, said that the numbers may be deceiving; if two hospitals merge, they may consolidate under one provider number, which may make the data look worse than it really is. However, this certainly feels like a trend worth watching.