Excessive emergency room visits add $4.4 billion to health care costs

LOS ANGELES – About 17 percent of visits to US emergency rooms are unnecessary, involving conditions that could be treated at medical clinics or urgent care centers and costing as $4.4 billion in health care costs, according to a study released Tuesday by the Santa Monica-based RAND Corp.

Among the conditions being treated at ERs that could be handled elsewhere are minor infections, strains, fractures and lacerations, according to the study’s findings, where were published in the September edition of the Health Affairs journal.

“Patient traffic to hospital emergency departments has been...