Where Americans Get Acute Care: Increasingly, It’s Not At Their Doctor’s Office

Historically, general practitioners provided first-contact care in the United States. Today, however, only 42 percent of the 354 million annual visits for acute care-treatment for newly arising health problems -are made to patients' personal physicians. The rest are made to emergency department...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health Affairs 2010-09, Vol.29 (9), p.1620-1629
Main Authors: Pitts, Stephen R, Carrier, Emily R, Rich, Eugene C, Kellermann, Arthur L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountable care organizations
Ambulatory care
Chronic illnesses
Departments
Emergency medical care
Family physicians
Health care access
Health care policy
Health insurance
Health policy
Health problems
Homeless people
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Medicaid
Medical personnel
Medical service
Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act 2010-US
Patient safety
Patients
Physicians
Primary care
Public health
Specialists
Studies
United States
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Summary:Historically, general practitioners provided first-contact care in the United States. Today, however, only 42 percent of the 354 million annual visits for acute care-treatment for newly arising health problems -are made to patients' personal physicians. The rest are made to emergency departments (28 percent), specialists (20 percent), or outpatient departments (7 percent). Although fewer than 5 percent of doctors are emergency physicians, they handle a quarter of all acute care encounters and more than half of such visits by the uninsured. Health reform provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that advance patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations are intended to improve access to acute care. The challenge for reform will be to succeed in the current, complex acute care landscape. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0278-2715
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.2009.1026