The state's system for securing on-call emergency department specialist coverage remains costly, complex, and on the edge due to payment concerns, liability questions, and a shortage of specialists.

This Health Affairs article by Weinick, Burns, and Mehrotra finds that up to 27% of hospital ED visits are not emergencies and could take place at less expensive urgent care centers and retail clinics.

California's 512 acute care hospitals cared for 3 million inpatients and 42 million outpatients in 2007. This report examines these hospitals in terms of their bed supply and capacity, geographic distribution, ownership type, utilization, and financial health.

Although there are fewer emergency departments (EDs) in California hospitals, some hospitals have expanded their EDs. This issue brief analyzes trends in the use and capacity of the state's hospital-based EDs.

Meeting upcoming earthquake safety deadlines may be problematic for as much as half of California's at-risk health care infrastructure. Background and options are discussed in this publication, the first in a series for policymakers.

This issue brief presents the results of a survey that finds that most California hospitals are using emergency department tracking systems, but with varying levels of satisfaction and success.

This snapshot suggests that increasingly, Californians are trying to control medical costs by neglecting care and asking for cheaper medications, leading to more hospitalizations and emergency department use.

This report by RAND, a follow-up to a 2002 study, examines the progress California hospitals have made, and the challenges they face, in meeting seismic safety deadlines established under SB 1953.

This report examines the factors leading to inappropriate emergency department use by insured patients in California and recommends strategies to increase alternatives to ED use.

This issue brief examines why California's on-call physician system is unstable, how emergency departments are coping, and possible strategies for improving on-call coverage.