A new state-by-state report card of emergency medical care in the U.S. ranks Florida 27th earning a C- overall. That’s the same grade Florida received in the American College of Emergency Physicians’ last state-by-state report in 2009.
The most glaring problem the analysis reveals for Florida emergency rooms is a lack of access to care. “They (Florida) received an F near the bottom of all of the states because there were physician shortages, insufficient hospital capacity and a lack of adequate health insurance for people in Florida,” said chair of the report, Dr. Jon Mark Hirshon. “And a lack of specialists, a lack of psychiatric beds.”
Hirshon said Florida’s drop from an A- in 2009 to a C+ in 2014 in the category of disaster preparedness is a concern.
“It’s, in fact, alarming. Florida has a lot of disasters. And so the fact that they don’t have as well a coordinated statewide system that helps them take care of patients and people in the middle of a disaster is concerning. For a state like Florida, I don’t think that’s acceptable.”
Overall, the report shows a lack of adequate support for Emergency medical care through both federal and state policies. The District of Columbia comes in at the top of the ranking with Wyoming at the bottom. Nationwide results and a detailed analysis for Florida is available online at: www.emreportcard.org.
