Faced with more patients seeking care for nonemergencies, safety net hospital emergency departments (EDs) are working to redirect patients to outpatient clinics, community health centers, and private physicians, with varied results, according to a study released May 7 by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
The study’s findings are detailed in a new HSC issue brief, Safety Net Hospital Emergency Departments: Creating Safety Valves for Non-Urgent Care.
Among other study findings, some EDs are helping patients with nonurgent conditions identify other providers and schedule appointments. A Miami ED added a nurse practitioner to determine which patients could be treated in a clinic, and administrative staff to schedule appointments with primary care or dental clinics. Over the course of 18 months, ED staff referred an average of 50 patients a day to clinics--almost double what they initially expected and approximately 15 percent of total ED volume. Read the issue brief.
