Servicing the Needs of the Community
Hospitals strive to treat the immediate medical needs of patients, as well as provide for the future of their health care. Many of the services that hospitals offer on a daily basis, including emergency and neonatal intensive care, are simply uneconomical to maintain.
The number of emergency room (ER) visits nationwide has increased by almost 40 percent since 1991, with more than 123 million people visiting an emergency department (ED) annually.v The uninsured population, who often rely solely on emergency medical care, made up one fifth of those visits, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As the number of uninsured patients increases, hospitals are finding it much more difficult to manage the cost of operating ED.
Nevertheless, hospitals retain these services because they play a crucial role in ensuring that the health care needs of their community are met. Hospitals in the metropolitan Chicago region spent more than $209 million on these services in 2009, which include:
- Emergency and trauma care
- Neonatal intensive care
- Community health clinics
- Collaborative efforts with local governments and private agencies to prevent illness and improve wellness
- Ambulance services
- Physician referral services
- Pediatric care
- Geriatric care
- Hospice
- Rehabilitation care
- Burn care
- HIV/AIDS care
- Community wellness programs
- Substance abuse services
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