There goes one popular assumption about high medical costs.
New research suggests reducing non-urgent visits to emergency departments—a growing focus of both private and public insurance plans—will yield little to no savings for the health care system. The research was published last week in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
"The focus on non-urgent ER visits distracts from the potential savings that do exist in the area of hospital admissions," says lead study author Dr. Peter Smulowitz, a doctor of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "Emergency department patients are responsible for about half of all hospital admissions, and those admissions account for about 15 percent of all health care expenses. Many patients are admitted to the hospital from the ER either because the gaps in the rest of the health care system leave patients without other good care options, or because a fragmented system has failed to care for their complex chronic disease."
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Critical BenefitsPRO information including cutting edge post-reform success strategies, access to educational webcasts and videos, resources from industry leaders, and informative Newsletters.
- Exclusive discounts on ALM, BenefitsPRO magazine and BenefitsPRO.com events
- Access to other award-winning ALM websites including ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com
Already have an account? Sign In
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
