The health care system in Alabama, like all other states, faces serious problems. The American College of Emergency Physicians just released a Report Card (http://www.acep.org/reportcard) detailing many of the issues mainly related to emergency care.
There are serious problems with access to care because of the shortage of providers, difficulty covering rural areas, and lack of insurance for many people. There is a major problem with boarding patients in Emergency Departments in this country for lengthy periods until resources become available. This is occurring more and more in Alabama too. Access to care problems may lead to delays and possibly worse outcomes when people have more serious illnesses or injuries.
Our country and our state already face difficult times with respect to funding of healthcare. This was already worsening quickly because of the rapidly growing healthcare needs of baby boomers. The bad economy may significant aggravate the funding problems.
Our population is not as healthy as it could be. We have high rates of violence, obesity, accidents, and other conditions that are very costly. We could do significantly better with our immunization rates and other prevention measures. Alabama is worse than most states. If we could make our individual lifestyles healthier and improve prevention we could save billions of dollars in this country.
While dealing with the serious economic issues confronting our country and state, it is important that we avoid the mistake of not addressing and making progress with healthcare issues and other long-term issues. Everyone can help by working individually and helping with family and friends to improve one’s own health. We can also advocate to our leaders.
Steve Baldwin, MD
AL ACEP Board of Directors
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment