The situation is more significantly bad now in Mississippi.

We are concerned that the push to measure quality will become just a smoke screen to cut costs and to reduce the resources devoted to health care.

A lot of people take emergency care for granted. At a time when emergency- department visits are going through the roof, the number of emergency departments has declined because hospitals have found it's more economically attractive to close the emergency department than to keep it open and lose money.

Americans assume they will receive lifesaving emergency care when and where they need it, but increasingly that isn't the case.

The American emergency system is ill.

At a time when emergency department visits are going through the roof, the number of emergency departments has declined because hospitals have found it more economically attractive to close the emergency department than keep it open and lose money.