MetaStar project focuses on improving emergency transfers at rural hospitals.

VOLUME 112 • NO. 6 While emergency care is important in all hospitals, it can be particularly critical in rural hospitals, as their distance from fully equipped medical centers frequently necessitates early triage, stabilization, and transfer of patients. In particular, when a patient arrives at an emergency department (ED) needing time-sensitive care that includes transfer to a tertiary care center, the ED’s ability to quickly assess, arrange, and move the patient with the necessary and appropriate information can be of life or death importance. “Many aspects of hospital quality are similar for urban and rural hospitals — for example, providing acute myocardial infarction patients with aspirin,” says Eileen Scalise, nurse and quality consultant with MetaStar. “But because of their size, rural hospitals are less likely to provide specialized services such as cardiac catheterization or trauma surgery.” To address the need for seamless transfer communication, MetaStar, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Wisconsin, is partnering with the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health and 18 rural critical access hospitals in the state for a national pilot project that focuses on ED transfers. Wisconsin is one of 8 states participating in the pilot project, which is funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The purpose of the Emergency Department Transfer Communication project is to improve performance with regard to 7 domains intended to provide a means of assessing how well an ED communicates key patient infor-