Report on Freestanding Emergency Departments
Agency for Health Care Administration
December 2004

Table of Contents
Page
Background (150Kb .pdf) 1
  Freestanding Emergency Department in Florida 1
  Freestanding Emergency Department in Other States 2
  Trends in Hospital Outpatient Services 3
  Emergency Care and Hospital Development 5
  Market Incentives for Freestanding Emergency Departments 5
  Quality of Care in Freestanding Emergency Departments 6
  Summary of Background Issues 6
Are Freestanding Emergency Departments in the Public Interest? 6
  Improved Access 7
  Effect of Safety Net Hospitals 7
  Quality of Care 8
How Should Freestanding Emergency Departments Be Regulated? 8
Conclusions and Recommendations 10
References 11
Appendix 1 (579Kb .pdf) History of Florida's First Freestanding Emergency Department
Appendix 2 (1.2Mb .pdf) Proposed Rules
Appendix 3 Freestanding Emergency Departments in Other States
Appendix 4 (449Kb .pdf) Position of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians

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