Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the U.S.
Unit:Delivering Health Care - Part 2
Lecture:Retail Clinics, Urgent Care Centers, and Emergency Departments as Venues for Health Care
Slide content:Causes of Non-Emergency ED Visits May not have primary care providers Primary care clinicians are over-extended Lack of insurance Medicaid patients seek ED care more often Cost of ED visits more expensive then primary care Non-emergency visits to ED driving up health care costs 10
Slide notes:There are many reasons why patients with non-emergency medical issues choose to seek care in emergency departments. Some patients do not have a primary care provider. Many primary care clinicians are overextended, and there is a shortage of primary care providers. Patients who lack medical insurance find it difficult to go through the system of primary care clinics, so lack of insurance is often a barrier to care. Patients on Medicaid may seek emergency care more often than those with private insurance coverage or the uninsured because of higher rates of disability and chronic medical conditions. The growing trend of patients receiving non-emergency primary care services from the emergency department, rather than relying on primary care clinics, is troubling because the cost of providing care in the emergency department is far greater than the cost of delivering identical health care services in the setting of the primary care clinic. Therefore, inappropriate ED visits are driving up the cost of health care in the U.S. in general. 10