Emergency Medical Care in Rural America

Sept. 2001 Annals of Emergency Medicine pages 323-327  notes by Henry Lahore 10/14/01

More than 25% of the U.S. population (71.5 million) lives in rural areas (which is 96.9% of the total US land area).

“For example, the protocol for treatment of stroke with tissue plasminogen activator [tPA] required immediate access to a computed tomography scanner, a neuroradiologist, and a neurologist, not all of which are available in most rural emergency departments.”

43% of all US hospitals are in rural areas.

Rural populations have low rates of medical insurance coverage.

Managed care covers 50% of the US population but only 8% of the rural population.