In recent days, many hospitals have seen underserved or uninsured patients overflowing into emergency departments to seek medical attention (Chesny et al., 2007). This trend saw the number of patients being served in such units rising significantly. It is estimated that about 120 million patients often seek medical attention in emergency departments every year (Chesny et al., 2007). Regressively, the majority of the patients who are treated in emergency care facilities for medical issues that can be addressed by the primary care services. Apparently, such unnecessary visits to the emergency departments by underserved and uninsured patients have negative repercussions. For instance, there has been an increased costs and poor service delivery in emergency departments following the growing population of patients. In this article, the effects of seeking treatment in the emergency department will be discussed coupled with the effects of Affordable Care Act poses in emergency departments. The paper will also provide recommendations about how the situation can be addressed before summarizing the main points herein.
Effects of Providing Primary Care in Emergency Departments
It is unfortunate that emergency care facilities have been forced to establish their primary care units. Many insurers say that they are mandated to reimburse the treatment costs incurred at primary care level in emergency departments. As a result, this has made some hospitals to set primary care units within the emergency departments. However, by doing so, patients are encouraged to visit the emergency departments for most of their medical issues. On the other hand, this leads to increased costs as well as poor service delivery. Instead of providing primary care in emergency units, the country needs to focus on improving the potential of the leading care at community level. This is particularly necessary due to the ever-increasing population of the elderly and a reduction in the number of care physicians.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Notably, the onsite primary care such as the one that was launched by the Mississippi Medical Centre can also be misleading (Chesny et al. 2007). Following the test that was performed by using the system, the results obtained showed that there was a significant reduction in treatment costs. The electronic system was aimed at connecting the primary care units of the emergency department with the community care facilities. The program served a crucial role in reducing the population of individuals who were revisiting the emergency care services to seek for primary care. The costs reductions noted were as a result of the reduction in the number of people who were visiting that emergency department for treatment. However, the reductions observed were not real savings. This is because primary care ought to be offered at the community level. As such, programs that are initiated need to justify their cost saving implications. Importantly, it is imperative to devise means of establishing how a particular launched program prevents patients’ visits to the emergency departments. Besides, the assessment also ought to consider how hospitalization has been avoided as well as how the community primary care has been improved.
Impact of Affordable Care Act in Emergency Departments
Presently, there has been a mixed perception about the impact that Affordable Care Act (ACA) pose in the emergency department. Some group of individuals perceives that ACA increases instances of some patients visiting the emergency department. On a positive side, Hernandez-Boussard, et al. (2014) noted that ACA affects the use of emergency department and other health-related services among young adults (aged between 19-25 years). The research used 2009-2011 medical records from California, Florida as well as New York to note the variations in the use emergency department. Notably, the study showed the changes before and after ACA implementation. The results showed that a 5.9% reduction in emergency department visits had been achieved in every 1,000 people when compared to the senior citizens who recorded 1.5%. The major decrease was noted among women and blacks who reported a 2.3% and 3.5% decrease respectively. The observed decrease in visits implied that an estimated 38,000 young adults had ceased visiting the emergency department within the three states in the year 2011. This means that the implementation of ACA is essential in reducing the number of patients visiting the emergency department.
Recommendations
Throughout the state, there has been little progress made in curbing patient’s visits to emergency departments for primary care. The efforts shown have been small, therefore, their impact have also been minimal. For instance, the noted efforts include small projects such as employing care coordinators and issuance of small funds to local health facilities. In order to gain significant development, there is the need for the health system to come up with comprehensive programs that would expand their primary care capacity. That would have immediate positive and long-term cost saving impact. Nevertheless, that would largely depend on the willingness of the community and the local health systems in general to embrace creative methodologies. Such approaches ought to aim at ensuring that the healthcare system of the society becomes coordinated and collaborative. According to Enard & Ganelin, (2013), provides another way in which patients’ visits to the emergency department can be reduced. The authors state that using community health workers to act as patient navigators will significantly help in reducing instances of patients revisiting the emergency department for treatment.
Conclusion
Patients’ visiting emergency departments has become typical in the nation. As a result of this trend, much concern is now being laid on establishing programs that would aid patients to access primary medical care at community level. This may call for redesigning the programs in community clinics and other medical facilities so that patients can get medical attention with ease. Importantly, such programs would ensure that patients who need urgent care can make a single phone call and the primary care office can address their medical needs. In that respect, there is the need for more resources to be allocated to the primary care facilities so that the underserved patients can shun visiting emergency care units to seek medical attention.
References
Chesny, J. D., Smitherman, H. C., Taueg, C., Mach, J., & Smith, L. (2007). Taking care of the uninsured: a path to reform . Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0615162768
Enard, K. R., & Ganelin, D. M. (2013). Reducing preventable emergency department utilization and costs by using community health workers as patient navigators. Journal of healthcare management/American College of Healthcare Executives , 58 (6), 412.
Hernandez-Boussard, T., Burns, C. S., Wang, N. E., Baker, L. C., & Goldstein, B. A. (2014). The Affordable Care Act reduces emergency department use by young adults: evidence from three states. Health Affairs , 33 (9), 1648-1654.
