Hawaii emergency health services, not so good

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) released its first ever report card of the nation's emergency health services. The national overall grade was C-, the ACEP finding many states' emergency systems are operating "under extreme stress." Hawaii ranked 34th overall among states with its shortage of hospital space and trained professionals (see related FR post, here):

• Number of registered nurses per 1,000 people (41st)
• Number of hospital-staffed beds per 1,000 people (37th)
• Trauma centers per 1 million people (45th)
• Annual payments per fee-for-service enrollee in Medicare (51st)

Hawaii also "finished next to last in the nation in alcohol-related fatalities as a percentage of all traffic fatalities (50th)."

The report continues:

The state received its poorest mark of D- for its Medical Liability Environment. State legislators have done very little to enact reforms that would curb rising medical liability insurance premium rates, which are causing some good doctors to leave the state and others to reduce their availability to emergency patients.

Complete National Report
(available in pdf, 5.5MB, from ACEP)

Hawaii Report Card Detail
(available in pdf, 148KB)