I often read a health blog, during my daily review of relevant news in regards to physician services providers, patient care, and healthcare, in general.

This week in “SHOTS,” which appears in National Public Radio’s web news, I learned more about the latest buzz that seems to be discussed in hospitals’ emergency departments. It seems emergency room physician services providers believe the new health law will add to over-crowding in emergency rooms, and some say this could potentially lessen the quality of patient care in hospital ERs.

The American College of Emergency Physicians recently conducted a study, in which 97 percent of physician service providers, who work in hospital emergency rooms, said that “on a daily basis, they treated patients with Medicaid (the federal-state health plan for the low-income), but those patients were still unable to find doctors who would accept their insurance.

The study went on to say that “some emergency room physicians have commented that they have treated about the same percentage of patients with private insurance and primary care doctors. In those cases, primary care doctors have suggested patients seek care at emergency rooms, for one reason or another.

“The results are significant,” said Sandra Schneider, ACEP’s President. “They confirm what we are witnessing in Massachusetts — that visits to emergency rooms are going to increase across the country, despite the advent of health care reform, and that health insurance coverage does not guarantee access to medical care.”

Schneider added that, “separate studies show patients are not using emergency departments for non-emergencies in large numbers.”

“In other words, the vast majority of emergency care patients actually need to be there,” Schneider said.