Another study rebuts the myth that the uninsured are flooding the emergency departments.

Kids comprise about a quarter of emergency visits with a majority of them are for non-urgent conditions. In this study at a single children’s hospital ED, “95 percent had some form of insurance, and 97 percent had a primary care physician.”

The problem was access, such as long appointment waits and problems with communication. Full schedules led PCP offices to direct treatable cases to the ED.

This adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that improving primary care access can go a long ways to decompressing crowded emergency departments.

topics: pediatrics, emergency