Possible Way to Avoid Some Unnecessary Visits to Emergency Departments

I recently encountered an article that quantifies the resources expended by unnecessary patient visits to emergency departments (EDs) (see:Diverting avoidable emergency department visits could save healthcare $32 billion annually). Many such visits could have achieved the same results and less expensively in a physician's office. Below is an excerpt from the article:Diverting avoidable emergency department visits could save healthcare $32 billion annually. Primary care services rendered by hospital EDs come with substantially higher price tags than in primary care settings. Avoidable visits to emergency departments are among the major factors contributing to rising healthcare costs. Of the roughly 27 million annual ED visits by privately insured patients, about two thirds are avoidable....Part of the problem is that primary care services rendered by hospital EDs come with substantially higher price tags than in primary care settings. In fact, the average cost of treating 10 common treatable conditions at a hospital ED is $2,032, which is more than $1,800 higher than in primary care situations. The ED cost is 12 times higher than at a physician's office ($167) and 10 times higher than at an urgent care center ($193).The 10 treatable conditions examined in the brief were bronchitis, cough, dizziness, flu, headache, low back pain, nausea, sore throat, strep throat and upper respiratory infection....Higher costs at hospital EDs are partially driven by a couple of di...

Source: Lab Soft News - August 5, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Diagnostics Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Hospital Financial Medical Consumerism Medical Education Preventive Medicine Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs