Rising global temperatures and extreme heat are costing healthcare about $1 billion each summer, according to a report jointly released by left-leaning research organization the Center for American Progress and Virginia Commonwealth University researchers.
An analysis of data from Virginia's payer insurance claims database and extrapolating those numbers on a national scale revealed that each summer, extreme heat in the U.S. leads to 235,000 emergency department visits and more than 56,000 hospital admissions for heat-related conditions every summer.
To estimate the average annual cost at $1 billion per summer, researchers applied federal data on the average price of emergency room visits and hospitalizations at a national scale.
"The public should receive information on the warning signs of, and have access to care for, heat-related illness, while health care systems should train providers on treatment guidelines as well as strengthen infrastructure to maintain services during heat waves and power outages," the Center for American Progress recommended in its report.
The report outlines how even outside of the hospital setting, heat-related power outages can lead to other adverse health outcomes for patients including turning off necessary medical devices like oxygen pumps or dialysis machines.
"This incremental analysis of health events due to an environmental exposure is not something that we've really done before," Alex Krist, MD, a professor in the VCU School of Medicine's Department of Family Medicine and Population Health and a co-author of the report stated. "We're now applying this approach to a range of topics, like exposure to poor air quality and its impact on asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease events. This collaboration has set us up to be able to do a whole new set of research."
Next, research will be conducted to identify the communities where health outcomes are most affected by rising summer heat.