Three Categories Have F Grade

KXAN.com
January 17, 2014

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Texas is sliding, in the view of American College of Emergency Physicians.
A new report card has the state falling in rank from 29th to 38th based on the environment for emergency care.

ACEP: America's Emergency Care Environment

"I don't think there's a blanket statement for the state. I think that overall the access to primary care is a grossly deficient in our community, but especially throughout the state," said Bruce Moskow, president-elect of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians. "They'll have a cough. And they'll cough and cough for a month before they go see someone. And by that time they have a horrible pneumonia and they end up spending days in the hospital."

The report gives Texas an "F" when it comes to access to emergency care. It cites low Medicaid fees and a high number of under-insured Texans.

Texas did better in the category that looked at disaster preparedness. They state also got an "A" in the medical liability section. The report cites a cap on the amount of money someone can get in some lawsuits as part of the reason for that good grade.

The national organization is now pushing for national change.

"I think that it would be incumbent on the state legislature to to the same thing," said Moskow. "To look carefully on the emergency medicine system to determine why the college said that some of these things were deficient and decide in their minds whether that's true and address them."