What will be the percentage drop in attendance of Accident & Emergency department after implementation of charges?

The attendance of Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments in Hong Kong increased from 1.1 million in 1990 to 2.3 million in 2000. The statistics of Hospital Authority showed that about 75% of the attendance belonged to the semi-urgent or non-urgent cases. It is expected that the A&E attendance will drop after implementation of A&E charges. A cross-sectional study was done using the database of a typical medium size A&E department in Hong Kong to analyse this impact. The result of statistical analysis showed that there would be about 30% drop in A&E attendance. Other factors, however could affect the results and these were discussed. After adjustment, it was concluded that there would be about 20% drop in attendance after the implementation of A&E charges. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2001;8:241-246)