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Free-standing emergency centers in your ZIP?Free-standing emergency centers in your ZIP?https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/news/newstalk-texas/?Item=140552016-08-09T05:00:00Z2016-08-09T20:00:00Z

​​Dallas-Fort Worth - Business is booming in Texas for free-standing emergency departments. 

Your ZIP code may determine whether there will be one available near you.

The centers are emerging in wealthier neighborhoods, where patients are privately insured and are less likely to have Medicaid or Medicare, finds a study published in July 2016 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.​

The study, conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, suggests part of the problem may be that the emergency departments tend to emerge in more affluent areas, and around hospitals that already have emergency departments.

Texas was home to more than half of the 360 free-standing emergency centers in the country, which is not too surprising. 

In 2009, Texas became the first state to make it legal for emergency services to be provided by private for-profit companies, not just hospitals. 

The number of stand-alone emergency departments jumped from 19 in 2010 to just over 200 to date, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.

The Dallas Morning News identified six free-standing ERs in Dallas. 

One is in the 75244 ZIP code with median household income of $71,888 and nearly 74 percent of the population has private health insurance, according to U.S. Census data.

Two are in ZIP code 75209, where the median income is $81,791 and 69 percent of the residents are privately insured. Another is in 75219, where the median income is $60,726 and 61 percent are privately insured.

Only one, the Preston Hollow Emergency Room, is in a ZIP code where the median income is less than $50,000 annually. The average annual income there is $32,011, and nearly 67 percent of the population is either uninsured or on Medicare. 

Dallas Morning News
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Medical
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/20160802-are-free-standing-emergency-rooms-helping-only-the-wealthy.eceRead more at the {Source}

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