re: RE: an ER in NBR - It appears the numbers are finally coming to light...

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North Baton Rouge needs an emergency room. That won’t change because you don’t like it. It won’t change because you get some slanted data and conduct interviews with people who seek to gain from the current monopoly. According to a story done by CNN on hospital ER closures in California, “Emergency department closures generally happen in vulnerable communities, but their ripple effects extend to other hospitals,” said the senior author, Dr. Renee Y. Hsia, an associate professor in the department of emergency medicine and the Institute of Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.

While many people hearing about an emergency department closing at a hospital that is not where they normally would go may feel relief, Hsia said, “It’s important for people to know that it still does affect them.”

So while local healthcare leaders are painting a picture that all is well in Baton Rouge, no actual data has been tracked to support that. The CNN report went on to say, “The researchers used data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as well as other sources to identify 48 hospitals that closed their emergency departments in that state between 1999 and 2010. They then analyzed inpatient deaths among 16 million adult inpatients admitted through emergency departments during the same period.

They found that 4 million of those admissions were to hospitals located near another emergency department that had closed. Patients at the affected hospitals were more likely than patients at unaffected hospitals to be black, Hispanic, female and under the age of 65; they were also more likely to be uninsured or on Medicaid, and to be sicker overall.

Even after adjusting for the different patient and hospital characteristics, however, the researchers found that among inpatients at hospitals affected by an emergency room closure, 5% were more likely to die than patients at other hospitals. The increase in the risk of death for affected adults under 65 was even greater: their risk of dying in the hospital increased by 10% compared with similar patients who were not affected by a closure.

And heart attack, stroke and sepsis patients faced a 15% greater risk of dying in the hospital if there had been a closure nearby, when compared with similar patients at unaffected hospitals.

The researchers said emergency room closures at nearby facilities may contribute to mortality at other hospitals because they increase the distance and travel time to an emergency room, while exacerbating crowding and prolonging waiting times for care. Closures may also cause some patients to postpone seeking care, so that they are in worse shape by the time they arrive at a hospital, Hsia said.”

The question for those speaking on the healthcare issues of north Baton Rouge is that if the data in California is correct, how can it be a myth that there is a need for an emergency room in north Baton Rouge? The truth is, the medical professionals locally have not tracked the impact of the hospitals closure from an honest perspective, the city hasn’t, the Jindal administration didn’t do it, and now a year after the closure of the ER at BRG we don’t know how many lives could’ve been saved had that emergency room still been open. Gov. Edwards has a plan on his desk right now that would allow an emergency room to be opened in north Baton Rouge. Yet because of people like Rolfe and Stephanie he seems to be playing politics.

Lastly, both Rolfe and Stephanie talked about the funding of Champion, yet they see no problem funding yet another urgent care clinic on Florida Blvd. A clinic just down the street from Patient Plus Care Urgent Care Clinic – a private owned urgent care clinic that the Business Report just recently did a feature on. If OLOL comes in right down the street from Patient Plus Care, they are being assisted by the state, which helps them have an advantage over the private small business owner. Rolfe claims to be pro-business. The question is, are you pro-big business or small business, because opening another urgent care clinic that is being assisted by the state hurts the small business owners on Florida Blvd. The truth is, Our Lady of the Lake wants to monopolize this market in healthcare, yet they aren’t promising to increase the quality of care for patients. Opening an ER in north Baton Rouge at Champion allows competition to enter the market as well as helps increase the quality of care, because doctors at the larger facilities won’t be fatigued attempting service every emergency in the parish. This is good for all of Baton Rouge.

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