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Strengthening essential emergency departments: Transforming the safety net

Yun, Brian J
Singh, Malini K
Reznek, Martin A
Buehler, Greg
Wolf, Stephen J
Vogel, Lisa
Ho, Anthony A
Pino, Elizabeth C
Ellis, Lisa
Arbelaez, Christian
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Abstract

Safety-net emergency departments (EDs) are a critical component of the US health care system, delivering emergency care for patients in need, including vulnerable populations. EDs provide unscheduled acute care for patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of a person's ability to pay. In addition, EDs have transformed beyond their traditional roles of providing emergency services and being the centers for regionalized trauma, cardiac, and stroke care, to also becoming stewards of public health by leading screening and treatment efforts for nonemergent conditions, such as HIV, hepatitis C, mental health, and opioid use disorder. Many safety-net hospitals and their EDs serve essential roles in urban and rural communities, making the impact of recent closures particularly concerning. In response, we convened clinical, operational, and administrative leaders of key safety-net EDs across the United States in order to develop expert consensus related to critical issues facing safety-net EDs. The goals were to help inform policymakers about current challenges and to offer timely recommendations so that together we can mend the safety net as the country works toward the goal of health equity for all.

Source

Yun BJ, Singh MK, Reznek MA, Buehler G, Wolf SJ, Vogel L, Ho AA, Pino EC, Ellis L, Arbelaez C. Strengthening essential emergency departments: Transforming the safety net. Health Aff Sch. 2025 Mar 3;3(3):qxaf044. doi: 10.1093/haschl/qxaf044. PMID: 40084221; PMCID: PMC11904886.

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10.1093/haschl/qxaf044
PubMed ID
40084221
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© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Project HOPE - The People-To-People Health Foundation, Inc. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.