Mass. ER visits fell 55% during pandemic
Photo | Grant Welker
UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus in Worcester, which is one of the hospitals under the UMass Memorial Health umbrella
Emergency department visits at Massachusetts hospitals fell 55% between January and April 2020, and as of last September were 24% below 2019 levels, illustrating how many would-be patients were staying away during the coronavirus pandemic.
Data from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission shows significantly smaller drops in use for behavioral health but the biggest drop for potentially avoidable visits, which declined 60%. Among age groups, the sharpest decline in ER use was those 17 and under, and a disproportionate share of hospital admissions for coronavirus were among racial and ethnic minorities and lower-income residents.
The Health Policy Commission said more research is needed to know to what extent people who didn't go to an emergency room instead sought care at other locations such as a primary care office or telehealth, or how much people might have been exposed to fewer risks of illness or injury because of the pandemic.
Patients were also less likely to seek inpatient services, the commission found. Hospital inpatient volume dropped 31% from January to April 2020 and remained below pre-pandemic levels through December, the office said.
The findings come as public health officials urged many patients to continue to seek needed care during the pandemic, but while many elective procedures and other appointments were postponed.
Intensive-care bed use spiked at the same time cases were at their initial peak last spring when so many of the sickest patients were hospitalized. Last April, when cases first peaked, ICU use was up 63% over the same month a year prior.
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