Background: The financial recession, affected Greeks who are still experiencing its devastating social and economic consequences. Therefore, financial crisis could not leave the public healthcare sector unaffected, due to the implementation of fiscal austerity measures. What is more, citizensÂ’ health as well as their access to and use of health care services have been deteriorated. This led to a great negative impact on citizens having a qualitative life and development. Objective: We sought to investigate the variance in patient influx in an emergency department (ED) during the current financial crisis and the correlation of this crisis with the factors that may affect this variance. Methods: The sample used in this study was composed of randomly selected for the consecutive years 2007, 2011 and 2016 patients, coming into ED in one of the Greek public hospitals in Athens. The final sample size in the present study consisted of 8731 patients. Results: The current financial recession has affected both the turnout and the characteristics of patients that have visited the ED. The financial crisis has led to an increase in the total number of visits to emergency departments and is associated with reduction in uninsured rates. Insurance coverage differed between the genders and by age. Insurance coverage was also associated to the probability of hospital admission and to the modality of transport to the ED. Conclusion: The economic crisis has affected the demand for public health services and has led to changes in the number of patients visiting the EDs as well as their characteristics.
Key words: Greek financial crisis, emergency department, health, patient characteristics, quality, accessibility.
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