Get Jim Lott’s perspective on issues surrounding emergency
services in California—from emergency room staffing to disaster
preparedness.
Jim Lott is the executive vice president of the Hospital
Association of Southern California where he is responsible for
health care policy development, advocacy, and association
communications for hospitals serving Los Angeles, Orange, San
Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.
This will be my last post, as I am leaving HASC at the end of
next month. Health is fine, work is great, just moving on
to the next chapter of my life, which will be in health care…what
else would I do?
I have enjoyed writing this blog, and I thank all of you who have
told me that you like reading what I write. I will truly
miss doing this.
Again, I’m still at HASC until May 31, so drop me a line or
call. After I leave, you may reach me on my cell at
213-324-3262 or by email at JLottSr@me.com.
Demand for emergency room care in California has increased by 26
percent over the last decade while capacity has remained flat or
declined in most service areas. Accordingly, some health care
analysts recommend that hospitals be allowed to operate
freestanding emergency departments (FEDs) to help meet a growing
need in the state. FED supporters also believe that the enactment
of health care reform will put greater stress on existing
hospital emergency departments because as many as 40 hospitals in
California, most with emergency rooms, will close in the coming
years.
Once a year for the past seven years, our community of hospitals
in Southern California comes together to honor the most giving of
themselves, the laborers of the planet. Okay, so we are a
little biased about the people working in our hospitals. Here are
but five of the extraordinary people we honored last week along
with their stories.
Our first award went to a nurse and social worker on the front
lines of a busy hospital who teamed up to fix a problem that
plagues emergency rooms everywhere … frequent flyers.
One of my most vivid childhood memories was when, as a teenager,
I broke my arm playing softball at school. The pain was
excruciating, but it was the quest to get medical treatment for
my fractured appendage that is most memorable. The private
hospital closest to my school in South Central Los Angeles turned
my mother and me away because I had no medical insurance.
As a consequence, with my arm resting on a clipboard, we had to
take a very long bus ride to the county hospital in East Los
Angeles where I finally received treatment after enduring many
hours of extreme pain.
According to a recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, few
regions in the United States have the appropriate hospital surge
capacity to cope with a major disaster. Funding on the national
level has been relatively low: “The federal government spends
less than $5 per person annually to pay for health systems and
agencies to be prepared for a disaster. More money is now spent
to stockpile drugs and supplies than to hire and train health
providers to treat disaster victims,” the report states.
Emergency department (ED) on-call systems are on the brink of
disaster. Spiraling downward nationally, they fare even worse in
California. It’s a simple problem of supply and demand. Hospital
executives are finding it increasingly more difficult to get
physician specialists (e.g., orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons,
obstetricians, general surgeons and others) to be on call should
their services be needed in the emergency room. Some physicians
say that being on call takes too much time away from their
private lives.
California’s emergency medical services (EMS) system is in
critical condition, most industry analysts would agree. In many
parts of the state, hospital emergency department (ED)
overcrowding, patients leaving without being treated, ambulance
diversion, and paramedic downtimes caused by ED saturation have
reached crisis levels.
Critical Issues Facing Hospitals
Medical miracles happen every day in California’s community
hospitals. Babies are born, the sick and injured are treated,
patients with critical illnesses are cured. Millions of
Californians rely on community hospitals and emergency rooms to
be there when they need them most.
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Critical Issues Facing Hospitals
Medical miracles happen every day in California’s community hospitals. Babies are born, the sick and injured are treated, patients with critical illnesses are cured. Millions of Californians rely on community hospitals and emergency rooms to be there when they need them most.