Mortality Rate Increases With Emergency Department Closures

Abstract

The Health Affairs article, “California Emergency Department Closures Are Associated With Increased Inpatient Mortality At Nearby Hospitals,” by Charles Liu, Tanja Srebotnjak, and Renee Y. Hsia, recently published in the August issue, presents an important, timely, and well-conceived analysis, especially given the number of emergency department (ED) closures in the last 10-15 years, the concomitant rise in ED visits during the same period, and the likelihood of further closures due to increased hospital consolidation across the country since the study took place. The article focuses on mortality rates and finds that hospitals in close proximity to an ED that had closed had 5 percent higher odds of inpatient mortality than admissions to hospitals not occurring near a closure, and that this effect disproportionately affected minority, Medicaid, and low-income patients, further exacerbating existing disparities in health care and health outcomes. This finding adds to Hsia’s body of work that calls attention to the disproportionate impact of institutional closures on health outcomes for vulnerable populations.