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Monday, November 4th, 2024

State and National Estimates of the Cost of Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness and Lives Saved

Author:     Craig D. Newgard, MD, MPH1; Amber Lin, MS1; Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert, PhD2; et al
Source:     Journal of the American Medical Association
Publication Date:     Nov 1, 2024
Link: State and National Estimates of the Cost of Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness and Lives Saved
Stephan:  

Yet another fact-based assessment of the inferior quality of America’s illness profit system. As this research paper in JAMA report, “Our results suggest that more than one quarter of deaths among children receiving emergency care in the US may be preventable through ED pediatric readiness. The magnitude of benefit is explained in part by the time to death among children who die after presenting for emergency care. Among children presenting to EDs who died within 1 year, death most commonly occurred at the initial ED and often within hours of arrival.” What very few Americans know is that a large percentage (between 20%-40%) of ERs are not owned by the hospitals in which they are located. Instead, they are owned and operated by private equity financial corporations Note also that for less than $12 per child these private equity ERs could be upgraded to care properly for children, but the equity firms, caring only about profit, aren’t spending that money.

Steps Could Cut Child Deaths After ER Visit, Research Shows
An emergency room awaits patients.   (Getty/monkeybusinessimages)

Key Points

Question  What are the state and national costs of raising all emergency departments (EDs) to high pediatric readiness and the potential number of lives saved?

Findings  In this cohort study of 4840 EDs across the US, 842 (17.4%) had high pediatric readiness and the annual cost to reach high pediatric readiness was $207 335 302, ranging from $0 to $11.84 per child by state. An estimated 2143 pediatric lives may be saved each year through universal high ED pediatric readiness.

Meaning  These results suggest that raising all EDs to high pediatric readiness would potentially save thousands of pediatric lives each year, with modest financial investment.

Abstract

Importance  High emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness is associated with improved survival among children receiving emergency care, but state and national costs to reach high ED readiness and the resulting number of lives that may be saved are unknown.

Objective  To estimate the state and national annual costs of raising all EDs to high pediatric readiness and the resulting number of pediatric lives that may be saved each year.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This cohort study used data from EDs in 50 US states and the District […]

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