A new online petition urging Hunt Regional Healthcare to reopen the emergency department in Commerce is gaining signatures. The petition, titled “Every Minute Matters”, calls for the restoration of local emergency services closed earlier this year.
But data, policy, and economics all point to why that may not happen.
Local and Regional Finances
Both Hunt Regional and local residents are correct about one thing: the decision to close the Commerce and Quinlan emergency departments was about money.
Hunt Regional told KETR in its response to a Texas Public Information Act request that fewer than 15 percent of visits to either ER were low-acuity cases—meaning the overwhelming majority were moderate to critical emergencies. That undercuts the popular belief that the facilities were “overused” for minor issues…