"Medicine has been very far behind in getting to that level of information management," said Gummerson, who works 15 eight-hour emergency shifts a month in addition to his administrative duties.
The emergency unit's current capacity is 44,000 annual visits, but there are about 72,000 emergency patients each year, Gummerson said. After the expansion, the emergency department will be able to handle 100,000 annual visits.
AAMC has seen a 30 percent increase in emergency patients since the hospital's move in 2001 from downtown Annapolis to the Jennifer Road campus, according to the hospital. Emergency room visits are increasing nationally by 7 percent each year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
