Emergency room admissions: changes during the financial tightening of the 1980s.

During the 1980s, as hospital payment systems constricted and the number of uninsured Americans grew, the configuration of admissions through the emergency room changed (measured through logit estimation using discharge data for California patients in 1983 and 1987). In particular, the probability that uninsured and minority patients were admitted through the emergency room increased between 1983 and 1987. In addition, between 1983 and 1987, the probability of admission through the emergency room for urgent/emergent medical conditions increased for uninsured patients and Medicaid patients, indicating that access for these groups has deteriorated during the period when payment systems have constricted.