Despite the expanded health insurance coverage required by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ScienceDaily reported yesterday that a new study, released in the Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded the likelihood that emergency departments will continue experiencing shortages in hospital physicians. The shortage is due to a continued lack of availability in primary care physicians.

The study covered patient care over a 10-year time period and observed nearly 320,000 Americans from various parts of the United States.

Results showed that of the ill or injured, those who experienced obstacles while seeking physician services – most notably in trying to find primary care physicians who were accepting new patients – resorted to patient care provided by local emergency rooms.

“Researchers say that expanded insurance coverage alone may not equate to better access to care despite the goals of the ACA, which include improving health insurance coverage, reducing healthcare costs, and expanding access to care for millions of Americans,” as reported in a separate news article by Thirdage.com.

“Massachusetts enacted legislation similar to the Affordable Care Act in 2006, but data showed that despite nearly 98 percent health insurance coverage, emergency department visits remained high; one main reason for this was limited access to primary care,” according to a summary of the study, in which Dr. Adit Ginde contributed as senior author.