Connecting Emergency Department Patients to Primary Care

Connecting Emergency Department Patients to Primary Care.

BACKGROUND Inappropriate emergency department (ED) use among Medicaid enrollees is considered a problem because of cost. We developed and evaluated a system change innovation designed to remove system barriers to primary care access for Medicaid patients. METHODS Patients who presented to the ED without an identified primary care provider were randomized to the intervention (n = 72) or compar...

Primary care and emergency department decision making.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of primary care status on decision making in the pediatric emergency department (ED). SETTING Urban tertiary care children's hospital. DESIGN Examining physicians prospectively completed questionnaires describing the presence of and their familiarity with patients' primary care providers (PCPs), as well as several relevant clinical factors. PATIENTS We pr...

Primary care physiotherapy in the Emergency Department.

Reduced Emergency Department Utilization after Increased Access to Primary Care

Sanjay Basu and Russell Phillips discuss the findings from Whittaker and colleagues on the link between extending primary care hours and emergency department utilization.

Changes in barriers to primary care and emergency department utilization.

agnosis was evaluated, not the management of the patient. Today, in the patients being evaluated for possible cardiovascular disease, echocardiography would be more often used in arriving at a diagnosis and especially in making management decisions for the patient. The modern imaging techniques when used appropriately have made the diagnosis of the patient’s disease and management more timely a...