October 2, 2008 - The number of emergency room visits in the United States increased by 20 percent between 1995 and 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Wait times have also been on the rise. In 2006, the average ER wait time in an emergency department was 56 minutes -- almost 10 minutes longer than it was in 2004. Meanwhile, the number of emergency departments in the nation is shrinking.

Over the last several decades, hospital emergency departments have increasingly served as safety net providers for the elderly and uninsured. More and more Americans use emergency room care as their primary source of physician care, especially in rural areas.

In 2006 the Institute of Medicine produced Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point to address quality-of-care concerns as society’s requirements of emergency room medicine have evolved. The book is part of the three-volume Future of Emergency Care series, which provides recommendations for addressing issues that face an overtaxed emergency health care system.

• Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point
• Future of Emergency Care

• National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2005 Emergency Department Summary
• National Center for Health Care Statistics