Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) — With Obamacare bearing down on them, a doctors' group said emergency rooms are less able to provide quality care than three years ago, and more resources will be needed to handle an expected surge of patients.

Hospitals have fewer beds available, causing delays in ERs that saw visits climb to 130 million in 2010, according to a report from the Dallas-based American College of Emergency Physicians. Federal funding for disaster preparedness has fallen, so the hospitals are also less prepared to handle a sudden influx of injured patients, the group said.

Care will become harder to access as people newly enrolled in the U.S. Medicaid program for the poor and aging baby boomers turn to ERs for medical services, the report said. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act broadens Medicaid eligibility to more than 19 million people. A study published in Science this month found new Medicaid patients in Oregon visited ERs 40 percent more often than the uninsured.