PwC: ER use in Arkansas has dropped

In the first half of the year, in all jurisdictions that took the PPACA coverage access expansion money, the percentage of hospital patients who were uninsured or who said they would pay their bills out of their own pockets, was down 47 percent, the analysts say. In Arkansas, the percentage of hospital patients classified as uninsured fell about 30 percent.

A hospital group was expecting an uptick in the use of hospital emergency rooms, but the number of ER visits was down 2 percent, the analysts say. The analysts say the Arkansas Hospital Association believes newly insured residents are using ER services less because the moderate-income consumers with QHP coverage are having an easier time seeing primary care doctors than they did when they had no coverage or when they had traditional Medicaid coverage. Doctors in some states have complained about stingy QHP reimbursement rates, but, for now at least, Arkansas doctors seem to see QHP reimbursement rates as being more attractive than Medicaid reimbursement rates.