The California Health Care Foundation released today a report on ED overcrowding (link to press release, report and other related information here), and recommendations for shifting nonemergency care to other settings. Top of the list of reasons for ED overcrowding, based on a survey of patients, was the inability to get an appointment for an office visit.
Readers: Do you buy this explanation, based on a patient survey? (Advanced access is not a new idea, after all, and surely must have some adherents in California.) A variety of solutions for ED overcrowding have been put forward in recent years (see discussion of one or two here) — what’s your favorite? How well has it worked?
— David Harlow
