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Sign of the Times: EDs Are Stretched
to the Max
By Tom Walsh
 The
ambulance arrives, you take care of the patient's needs, and it's
on to the next ambulance. Then it's back for test results of
an earlier patient. You're wound up, there's no time to think,
no time to eat. You just react...keep moving...you're
juggling 10 balls at a time sometimes. You worry about that second,
third, fifth ball. Is that patient okay? Have you seen everything?
That's Ylisabyth (Libby) Bradshaw,
D.O., offering her stream-of-consciousness description of a busy
weekend evening in the emergency department at Lawrence General.
"It's like being in a revolving
door that you can't get out of," she said of a busy shift at
one of Massachusetts's overcrowded, understaffed EDs. more
Crossovers Cut from Budget
Despite the best efforts of physicians
throughout Massachusetts, the state legislature cut crossover payments
from the state budget passed last month. This line item had funded
co-payments and deductibles for approximately 100,000 Medicare-eligible
patients who are also enrolled in Medicaid. more
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