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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – WASHINGTON – A new model that integrates emergency medicine with the health care system is needed to increase value and to promote cost savings, according to an editorial just published in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The popular views of emergency care misunderstand the current economic model of emergency departments and do not take into account how much emergency care is being demanded by patients and physicians, according to the editorial.
“It is unclear how emergency departments fit in the new payment models of health care reform, but according to this new model of emergency medicine, there should be a much stronger focus on patient care coordination,” said Dr. Andy Sama, president of ACEP. “And to save money in the health care system, the focus must be on reducing hospital admissions, rather than on diverting minor injuries and illnesses from the ER, which has inconsequential savings.”
Emergency departments must be integrated into an outcome-centered system that improves the health of populations, according to the editorial. At the same, time, the ability of emergency departments to respond to disasters and mass casualty events must be preserved.
The editorial envisions improved emergency department efficiency, care coordination and lower hospital admissions to save money. To achieve this, emergency physicians will need to coordinate and communicate with primary care physicians, nurses and case managers. Electronic medical records and data exchange networks also will be vital.
“We must build on the successes of rapid, outcome-centered treatments of complex and diagnostically challenging cases – sepsis, acute myocardial infarction, stroke and patients with multiple complex conditions – to leverage and adapt the best of emergency care,” said editorial author Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil.
In addition, to measure cost savings in emergency departments, true accounting in hospitals will be required – otherwise it will be impossible to determine how much savings were achieved from avoidable admissions.
Annals of Emergency Medicine is the peer-reviewed scientific journal for the American College of Emergency Physicians, the national medical society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research, and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies. For more information visit www.acep.org.
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