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The newest threat to America’s health care system is a growing shortage of hospital personnel. Hospitals across the country are struggling to find qualified staff to serve their communities’ needs.
Emergency departments are an important resource for all communities, but EDs play a special role in providing care for traditionally underserved populations—the poor, the uninsured, certain minority groups, and rural residents—who often have trouble accessing other sources of care.
Essential access is about more than providing needed medical care — it is about how and to whom those services are provided. While traditional funding for these services is crumbling, demand for these services continues to increase as the number of uninsured grows.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) reduces spending across a broad range of government programs. In response to a groundswell of provider concern, Congress and the President enacted the Medicare Balanced Budget Refinement Act (BBRA) in 1999.
With demographic changes projected to drive up expenditures and the predicted insolvency of the Medicare trust fund, policymakers are looking to the private sector for ideas.
Medicare is the primary payer for most hospital-based post-acute providers. The number of Medicare patients receiving post-acute care has increased and those receiving post-acute services are receiving more intensive care.
An RN shortage appears to be emerging in certain specialty and geographic areas. This shortage may become more serious and widespread over time, due to changes in social, demographic and economic factors.
Since 1988 hospital performance has improved. In 1997, average total margin was 6.7% compared to less than 5% in the early 80’s.