Healthcare leaders report concerns about overcrowded EDs

According to a HealthLeaders Media report released last week, nearly half (46 percent) of healthcare leaders around the country have emergency departments that are overcrowded. Furthermore, 51 percent of those respondents also said that they are very concerned that the overcrowding issue will jeopardize patient safety.

In addition, 56 percent of respondents said their ED inpatient admissions increased over the last two years and 43 percent of them reported that their biggest strategic challenge is dealing with patient flow. The survey, which was administered online during the month of February this year, had nearly 300 respondents in operations, clinical work and finance and information.

[Also: ED wait times highest since 2002]

Other big strategic challenges sited by respondents in the survey were physician alignment, adherence to quality goals and reimbursement challenges. Out of all of the respondents, 95 percent said they have current efforts going on to improve throughput efficiency in their EDs. Their efforts include a fast-tracking area for less acute injuries or illnesses (65 percent), a triage medical evaluation process (56 percent), coordination with inpatient floor nurses (55 percent) and a streamlined registration process (54 percent).

“I think safety is a big concern as more older people with medical problems will be sicker and showing up in the ED, and all this means everyone is going to take longer to go through the system,” said Philip Newbold, president and CEO of Memorial Hospital & Health System and Elkhart General Healthcare System in South Bend, Ind., in a press release. “If healthcare reform goes through, millions of Americans will have an insurance card, and will be on the inside as opposed to the outside. I think the concern with healthcare reform is that many of the emergency departments in the country will be undersized, and many in the public will have to understand they should be going to an urgent care setting or community-based programs for certain conditions instead of the ED.”

Most survey respondents said they don’t believe healthcare reform will improve patient volume, reimbursement, revenue margin and quality outcomes. Only 35 percent said it would improve patient volume, 13 percent said it would improve reimbursement rates, 8 percent said it would increase the revenue margin and 30 percent think it will improve quality outcomes.

[Also: ED information systems market to grow 30 percent]

In addition, 34 percent of healthcare leaders said they have programs in their institutions that focus on specific conditions to divert patients from the ED to urgent or primary care. Of those respondents, 42 percent said they have a program for psychiatric health issues and 33 percent have a program for prescription drug abuse issues.

 

[Also: ER visits covered by Medicaid increased 6 percent in 2009]