Emer Dept 2.1

School: University of Maryland - Course: HCAD 645 - Subject: Accounting

Why do patients who are not critically ill go to emergency departments? There are some main differences when it comes to urgent care and the emergency department. Urgent care can be used for injuries or illnesses that are not life threatening. Whereas, the emergency department is for serious conditions that are medical emergencies.Patients may seek care in the emergency department when they are not critically ill because of convenience in the location or familiarity of the facility. Also, because patients may lack insurance.I feel as though many do not know the difference between their options of care. For many years it was either go to one's family doctor or the emergency department. Now, there are walk-in clinics and urgent care centers throughout the community, however, many may not know the difference of the facility's use. Why are prices so high in emergency departments? One reason that emergency departments' prices are so high is because it requires a great deal of equipment that is oftentimes expensive to purchase as well as maintain. Additionally, it requires inventories of a variety of medical supplies. Furthermore, this department operates 24/7. Another aspect to consider is that it takes a large number of employees to run an emergency department. Moreover, by law, the emergency department is required to provide care to everyone, despite their ability to pay, which can then increase costs. Are production costs also high in emergency departments? Production costs refers to the costs an organization experiences from providing a service that produces revenue for the establishment (Accounting Tools, 2022). Some of these expenses can be from labor and general overhead (Accounting Tools, 2022). In which case, yes production costs are high in emergency departments. This is due to emergency departments being required to support highly trained and numerous employees, in addition to, a plethora of resources in order to offer care to patients with an array of medical needs.