FRIDAY, July 31, 2009 (HealthDay News) -- An estimated 50 million, or 42 percent, of the 120 million visits made in 2006 to U.S. hospital emergency departments were billed to the Medicaid and Medicare programs, according to a U.S. government report released Thursday.
Uninsured patients accounted for nearly 18 percent of emergency department visits nationally, 34 percent were billed to private insurance, and 6 percent were billed to worker's compensation, military health plan administrator Tricare, and other payers, according to the latest News and Numbers from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Among the other findings:
The study is based on an analysis of data from the 2006 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, which contains records of emergency department visits from about 1,000 community hospitals nationwide. The hospitals account for 20 percent of all U.S. hospital emergency departments.
More information
The American College of Emergency Physicians explains when patients should go to the emergency department.