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| 9 patients, 2,678 ER visits in 6 years in Texas |
| 2009-04-02 |
| Nice... AUSTIN, Texas – Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients. "What we're really trying to do is find out who's using our emergency rooms ... and find solutions," said Ann Kitchen, executive director of the group, which presented the report last week to the Travis County Healthcare District board. The average emergency room visit costs $1,000. Hospitals and taxpayers paid the bill through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, Kitchen said. But of course... Eight of the nine patients have drug abuse problems, seven were diagnosed with mental health issues and three were homeless. Five are women whose average age is 40, and four are men whose average age is 50, the report said, the Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday. "It's a pretty significant issue," said Dr. Christopher Ziebell, chief of the emergency department at University Medical Center at Brackenridge, which has the busiest ERs in the area. Ya think, doc? Solutions include referring some frequent users to mental health programs or primary care doctors for future care, Ziebell said. I got some solutions. But I don't think they'd like them... "They have a variety of complaints," he said. With mental illness, "a lot of anxiety manifests as chest pain." |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #5 Adopt the Chinese model: cash up front, and stand in line at the registration desk, before treatment. Doesn't matter if you're bleeding, delirious, unconscious, or whatever. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-04-02 21:55 |
| #4 How about this: Don't treat them in the ER unless it is a real life or limb threatening emergency. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-04-02 18:36 |
| #3 How about this for those without insurance who aren't bleeding, choking, or in the process of a heart attack or some other obvious emergency: admit them to a free clinic next door to the emergency room where they can wait in line and be seen by a health care provider. It would be much cheaper than an emergency room and the long waits would would deter all but those who really feel they need to be seen. |
| Posted by: Gluting Fillmore6653 2009-04-02 18:08 |
| #2 Solution.... END the federal mandate regarding hospital walk-in care and make these bastids get an appointment with a doc and PAY for services rendered like the rest of us. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-02 17:32 |
| #1 I've worked in my share of ERs. None of this is news. Potential solutions: 1) rebuild inpatient mental health facilities. That has its own problems. 2) better drug rehab. That has its own problems and doesn't work well anyway. 3) shunt patients who aren't sick to primary care centers. Been tried, doesn't work well. 4) shelter the homeless. Bush administration did that; it worked; he got no credit. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-04-02 13:05 |