Uninsured in Las Vegas Turn to Emergency Rooms for Care
Las Vegas residents without health insurance are more likely than their counterparts in other U.S. cities to seek primary care in emergency rooms, a patient survey at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and University Medical Center found. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that while 77% of uninsured patients at hospitals across the country use emergency rooms for primary care, 84% and 89% use the emergency rooms for primary care at University Medical and Sunrise Hospital respectively. The study, completed for the Boston-based Access Project, an advocacy group, did not address why the numbers may be higher in Las Vegas. However, health officials in the city said "rapid growth," a large undocumented worker population and a shortage of free clinics contributed to the influx of patients turning to emergency rooms for care. To alleviate the patient overflow in the city's emergency rooms, the Clark County Health Access Consortium, a group working to improve primary care access for the uninsured, is lobbying for an expansion of federally funded clinics to treat patients requiring nonemergency care. Thom Reilly, a consortium associate, said, "It's been known in the health community that people are going to the emergency room because they can't turn you away, and given their status, that's the only option they have." He added, "What we're attempting to do is increase the number of clinics throughout the community so they can access primary care closer to home and not go to the ER" (Squires, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1/23).
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