The impact of information technology on emergency health care outcomes

We analyze the productivity of information technology in emergency response systems. "Enhanced 911" (E911) is information technology that links caller identification to a location database and so speeds up emergency response. We assess the impact of E911 on health outcomes using Pennsylvania ambulance and hospital records between 1994 and 1996, a period of substantial adoption. We find that as a result of E911 adoption, patient health measured at the time of ambulance arrival improves, suggesting that E911 speeds up emergency response. Further analysis using hospital discharge data shows that E911 reduces mortality and hospital costs.

Rationing and the role of the emergency department as society's safety net

Emergency medicine has an integral role in the establishment of universal access to health care for all persons living in the United States. Currently, emergency departments provide the only unfunded mandate available to millions of American residents who otherwise have no access to health care coverage. Any effort to establish universal care must accept health care rationing as a basic principle, and establish a minimum standard of benefits to which all human beings are entitled in this country. People and employers should be allowed to purchase additional care based on their willingness and ability to pay, but under no circumstances should anyone be denied a basic package of health care benefits. Emergency care must be part of those basic benefits. Emergency medicine charges should be structured so that they are not unduly onerous to society, and should reflect true expenses, including marginal costs for nonurgent care. Emergency physicians (EPs) and hospital administrations should recognize their critical role in serving society in roles that are not strictly medical, and allocate resources to benefit the general population in the greatest way. This role will be expanded to include preventive care, to provide for basic pharmacologic coverage as needed, and to provide necessary immunizations when traditional primary care has failed. We have a moral obligation to recognize that resources are limited and to allocate them so as to benefit the greatest number of patients in the greatest way. As members of the medical profession best equipped to assume such a task, it is incumbent upon EPs to act as advocates to the public to enable us to fulfill this mission.

Rochester, New York: a decade of emergency department overcrowding

Overcrowding is common in emergency departments (EDs) throughout the United States. The history of ED overcrowding in Rochester, New York, is notable due to its unique health care system that introduced the concepts of managed care as early as the 1950s. An effect of this system was to intentionally restrict resources and allow the issue of access to limit utilization. Overcrowding in EDs was severe in the late 1990s-2000, and became an accepted local standard of care.

OBJECTIVE

To study the strategies to reduce ED overcrowding in Rochester in the last decade.

METHODS

A descriptive analysis of individual hospital and community efforts to decrease ED overcrowding.

RESULTS

Of the strategies tried, those that had little effect on ED overcrowding were based from the ED, such as ambulance diversion. Those that were successful were those that addressed factors external to the ED such as increased flexibility of inpatient resources; float nurses who responded to acute care needs; a transition team (mid-level provider along with registered nurse (RN)/licensed practical nurse) who cared for inpatients boarded in the ED; integrated services across affiliated hospitals/systems; an early alert system that notified key personnel before "code red" criteria were met; and a multidisciplinary team to round in the ED and analyze resource needs. Current community-wide initiatives include precise tracking of code red hours; monitoring patient length of stay (LOS) in the ED and inpatient units; education of physicians and nursing homes regarding ED alternatives; exploration of additional resources for subacute and long-term care; establishing a regional forum to address the nursing shortage; development of an ED triage system to coordinate diversion activities during code red; and consideration of a county-wide state of emergency when needed.

CONCLUSIONS

Emergency department overcrowding is the end result of a variety of factors that must be addressed system-wide.

Threats to the health care safety net

The American health care safety net is threatened due to inadequate funding in the face of increasing demand for services by virtually every segment of our society. The safety net is vital to public safety because it is the sole provider for first-line emergency care, as well as for routine health care of last resort, through hospital emergency departments (ED), emergency medical services providers (EMS), and public/free clinics. Despite the perceived complexity, the causes and solutions for the current crisis reside in simple economics. During the last two decades health care funding has radically changed, yet the fundamental infrastructure of the safety net has change little. In 1986, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act established federally mandated safety net care that inadvertently encouraged reliance on hospital EDs as the principal safety net resource. At the same time, decreasing health care funding from both private and public sources resulted in declining availability of services necessary to support this shift in demand, including hospital inpatient beds, EDs, EMS providers, on-call specialists, hospital-based nurses, and public hospitals/clinics. The result has been ED/hospital crowding and resource shortages that at times limit the ability to provide even true emergency care and threaten the ability of the traditional safety net to protect public health and safety. This paper explores the composition of the American health care safety net, the root causes for its disintegration, and offers short- and long-term solutions. The solutions discussed include restructuring of disproportionate share funding; presumed (deemed) eligibility for Medicaid eligibility; restructuring of funding for emergency care; health care for foreign nationals; the nursing shortage; utilization of a "health care resources commission"; "episodic (periodic)" health care coverage; best practices and health care services coordination; and government and hospital providers' roles.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a base amount of funding that must be available to the American health care safety net to maintain its infrastructure and provide appropriate growth, research, development, and expansion of services. Fall below this level and the infrastructure will eventually crumble. America must patch the safety net with short-term funding and repair it with long-term health care policy and environmental changes.

[Theme: High utilizers of health care services. How do we help the patients who constantly top visitors' statistics?]

A series of articles reviews the problem of patients with high utilization of health care. Many of these patients display somatization behaviour, presenting with physical symptoms unaccounted for by any demonstrable medical condition. High utilizers often get insufficient help from doctors and other health care providers, who are not trained to understand and manage the underlying psychosocial problems. The same problem occurs in different settings of health care, such as: Primary care: Seven out of ten high utilizers of primary care have no physical disease; they attend primarily for somatic symptoms, although there is a predominance of psycho-social problems. Emergency room care: High utilizers of emergency room care are characterized by insufficient social support, often in combination with substance abuse. Physical symptoms are often perceived as life-threatening, even though there is no known underlying disease. Non-psychiatric hospital care: There is a six fold increase in high utilization of non-psychiatric hospital care among patients with a somatoform diagnosis.

MEDICATION

Patients treated with anti-depressants--implying depressive disorder--have a two or three fold increased utilization of non-psychopharmacological drugs, of primary care and of non-psychiatric hospital care as compared to those with no treatment for depression.

[Social criteria for selecting patients in emergency services]

OBJECTIVE

To identify the social first-year and senior undergraduate students of a healthcare management course used for selecting patients who need emergency medical care.

METHODS

A random sample of 64 first-year and 25 senior year students of a healthcare management course in São Paulo, Brazil, were studied. To collect data, a survey instrument was developed with nine hypothetical simulated case scenarios, including the social criteria involved in the patient selection process, such as age, sex, economical status, life-style, and social duty.

RESULTS

There were significant differences in the two groups concerning criteria such as the patient's life-style and economic status.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that the respondents accept the inclusion of social criteria in the decision-making process in a situation of scarce resources.

JEMS Salary Survey 2001

EMS organizations have made strides in recent years in recruiting women into all employment categories. However, this year's small glimpse of top management pay inequities for women indicates the need for additional research and attention to correcting salary imbalances. On the bright side, as EMS organizations tighten their belts in preparation for potential cutbacks due to the impending Medicare fee schedule, we find it encouraging to see modest salary increases in most provider categories this year.

Medicare program; payments for new medical services and new technologies under the acute care hospital inpatient prospective payment system. Final rule

This final rule establishes a mechanism for increased Medicare payments for new medical services and technologies furnished to Medicare beneficiaries under the acute care hospital inpatient prospective payment system. The rule implements section 533 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP [State Children's Health Insurance Program] Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000; and finalizes related regulatory provisions that were addressed in a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2001 (66 FR 22646).

Comparative practice patterns of emergency medicine physicians and pediatric emergency medicine physicians managing fever in young children

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

The management of fever in young children is a controversial topic. This study seeks to compare the management approaches between general emergency medicine physicians (GEMPs) and pediatric emergency medicine physicians (PEMPs) and correlate them to existing practice guidelines.

DESIGN/METHODS

All charts of children age 3 to 36 months presenting with the complaint of fever at both a children's hospital emergency department (ED) and a general ED from June 1, 1998 to September 1, 1998; December 1, 1998 to April 1, 1999; and June 1, 1999 to September 1, 1999 were retrospectively reviewed. Fever was defined as >/=39 degrees C. Patients with a history of immunodeficiency, chronic illness, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, antibiotic use in the past 48 hours, or focal infection noted on examination were excluded. Data collected included focal exam findings, laboratory tests, diagnosis, treatment, and disposition. Variances from the practice guidelines were tabulated and compared.

RESULTS

One thousand three hundred twenty-three eligible children met exclusion criteria and were seen by PEMPs; 755 were eliminated because of exclusion criteria (526 because of focal infection). Twenty-two (4%) of 568 remaining patients were admitted to the hospital. Two hundred twenty-eight eligible children were seen by GEMPs; 147 were excluded (109 because of focal infection). No patients were admitted to the hospital. PEMPs ordered more complete blood counts (324/568 vs 27/81), more blood cultures (321/568 vs 27/81), and more urine cultures (208/568 vs 20/81) than GEMPs. GEMPs ordered more chest radiographs and cerebrospinal fluid analyses than PEMPs; GEMPs ordered less complete blood counts, blood cultures, and urine cultures than PEMPs. GEMPs diagnosed more focal infections (109/228 vs 526/1323), and conflicted more often with the practice guidelines (66/79 vs 225/498) than PEMPs. Patients spent an average of 2.26 +/- 0.16 hours in the pediatric ED versus 3.0 hours +/- 0.18 hours in the general ED.

CONCLUSIONS

Significant differences in the management of the young child with fever and no source exist between these two groups of physicians. These variations affect both cost and standard of care. Future studies assessing whether these strategies affect patient outcomes would further elucidate their clinical implication.

Public access defibrillation: a shocking idea?

Currently, survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United Kingdom is poor. Ambulance response standards require that an ambulance reach 75 per cent of cardiac arrests within 8 min. But a short time to defibrillation from the onset of collapse is a key predictor of outcome from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The Department of Health has recently implemented a lay responder defibrillation programme, with the aim of shortening this time interval for victims in public places. This initiative utilizes automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which provide written and recorded voice prompts to minimize training requirements and errors in use. Lay responder AED programmes with very short response times have reported survival to discharge rates of up to 53 per cent for patients presenting in ventricular fibrillation (VF). This compares well with the results of a meta-analysis that reported a survival rate of only 6.4 per cent for traditional defibrillator-equipped ambulance systems. The annual incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in England is 123 per 100,000 population. Approximately half of these present in VF, and could benefit from an AED programme. But only 16 per cent of cardiac arrests occur in a public place. It has been calculated that there are approximately 5,000 instances of VF in public places each year in England. If half of these patients can be reached and administered a first shock within 4 min of their collapse, an additional 400 victims may survive each year. Given the current investment by the DoH of 2 million pounds, this suggests a cost per life saved of approximately 505 pounds over a 10 year period.

[Emergency service in Arendal--a new model of intermunicipal emergency service]

BACKGROUND

Over the past years there has been increasing debate over the organisation of off-hour primary care emergency services. In March 2000 we established an emergency room serving 80% of the total population of a Norwegian county, Aust-Agder. The most important change introduced was a reduction in house calls. Patients from smaller municipalities now have to come in to the emergency room; previously many consultations were made in the patients' own homes. This organisational model has now been evaluated to see if it made patients less satisfied and whether it was less expensive to run.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

100 patients were interviewed by questionnaire in order to see if there were changes in their satisfaction with the emergency services provided. Costs were studied by collecting data from the social security service and from the participating municipalities before (1999) and after (2000) the reorganisation.

RESULTS

The overall impression is that patients have not expressed any dissatisfaction with the new organisational model and that it has cut expenses. We found that the social security service had cost savings of 31% for doctors on call, while the municipalities had an increase in expenditure of 17%.

INTERPRETATION

It is possible to establish larger off-hour primary care emergency services without greater inconvenience to the patients. The new model is beneficial for doctors and saves costs for society, though the social security service's savings are somewhat offset by increased expenses on the part of the municipalities.

A dedicated craniofacial trauma team improves efficiency and reduces cost

BACKGROUND

In this era of limited medical resources there is ever increasing pressure to lower costs, while preserving high-quality patient care. A dedicated craniofacial and skull base trauma team (SBT) was established at our Level I trauma center in July 1998. Previously, a rotating call panel of multiple private surgical subspecialists consulted on trauma patients with craniofacial or skull base injuries (Pre-SBT). This study was designed to assess the impact a dedicated craniofacial and skull base trauma team has on the cost and quality of patient care.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective review of the trauma registry and charts was performed including all craniofacial and skull base trauma cases in the 18 months Pre-SBT and 18 months following the establishment of a SBT.

RESULTS

During the Pre-SBT period there were 29 craniofacial and skull base operations, whereas 28 such cases were performed by the SBT. The age, sex, injury severity score (ISS), mechanism of injury, and type of craniofacial/skull base injuries were comparable between groups. The SBT group demonstrated a reduction in the number of patients transferred to other institutions for definitive care (7 vs 1, P = 0.05) and statistically significant reduction in the number of subspecialty consultations (2.4 vs 1.3), time to operation (7.5 vs 3.0 days), and length of hospitalization (11.8 vs 6.8, all with P <or= 0.001). Additionally, hospital charges were markedly reduced in the SBT group (106,424 dollars vs 58,136 dollars, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The addition of a dedicated craniofacial trauma team to a Level I trauma center provides more comprehensive care, improves efficiency, and reduces cost.

Emergency dental service is still needed--also for regular attenders within a comprehensive insurance system

The aim of this study was to describe types of, and reasons for, emergency visits for regular dental attenders in the Public Dental Health Services (PDHS). The study was based on data from 895 consecutive emergency episodes collected from four PDHS clinics in the county of Ostergötland, Sweden, during a six-month period in 1994/95. Forty per cent of the dental emergency visits included children and adolescents. The most common reasons for attending were material fractures (29%), tooth fractures (19%), pain (19%) and dental traumas (12%). Seventy-three per cent of all patients and 60% of children and adolescents knew the next scheduled revision appointment. In 85% of the cases care-givers and patients were in agreement regarding the urgency of the visit. The care-givers considered 14% of the visits non-urgent, only in 1% they felt that the patient should have come earlier. The results show that emergency visits are common among regular dental care patients, but are dominated nowadays more by answering patients' questions and less by pain relief. Via systematic follow-ups and better learning from the experiences of those who seek emergency dental care, routines could be further developed and considerable benefits achieved concerning both perceived service quality and cost-effectiveness.

Results from the first 12 months of a fire first-responder program in Australia

STUDY OBJECTIVE

We aimed to reduce response times and time to defibrillation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients through fire first-responders equipped with automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). The fire first-responders were added as an extra tier to the existing two-tired ambulance response.

METHODS

This prospective controlled trial set in Melbourne, Australia, consisted of a control area (277 km2, population density 2343/km2-ambulance only dispatch) and a pilot area (171 km2, population density 2290/km2-ambulance and fire first-responder dispatch). The main outcome measures were time to emergency medical service (EMS) arrival at scene for all cardiac arrest patients and time to defibrillation for cardiac arrest patients presenting in ventricular fibrillation (VF). The study participants were patients who suffered a cardiac arrest of presumed cardiac aetiology for which a priority 0 emergency response was activated. A total of 268 patients were located in the control area and 161 in the pilot (intervention) area.

RESULTS

The mean response time to arrival at scene was reduced by 1.60 (95% CI 1.21, 1.99) min, P < 0.001. A large reduction in prolonged responses (> or = 10 min) to cardiac arrests was also observed in the pilot area (2%) compared with the control area (18%), chi = 23.19, P < 0.001. Mean time to defibrillation was reduced by 1.43 (95% CI 0.11, 2.98) min, P = 0.068.

CONCLUSION

The results from this study suggest that fire officers can be successfully trained in the use of AEDs and can integrate well into a medical response role. The combined response of ambulance and fire personnel significantly reduced the response interval and reduced time to defibrillation. This suggests that in appropriate situations other agencies could be considered for involvement in co-ordinated first-responder programs.