\There is an obvious need to change the way we treat patients with low-acuity ailments without compromising quality of care or drastically increasing cost of care. Although the increased access to unscheduled acute care that urgent care centers have created is a step in the right direction, there is an obvious need for innovative models of delivery that can increase this access without increasing the cost patients and insurers must shoulder—costs that inevitably are passed on to patients.
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ACEP Now: Vol 40 – No 11 – November 2021This Health Policy Journal Club review is a collaboration between Policy Prescriptions and the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association.
References
- Moore BJ, Liang L. Costs of emergency department visits in the United States, 2017. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website. Available at: https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb268-ED-Costs-2017.jsp. Accessed Oct. 18, 2021.
- Wang B, Mehrotra A, Friedman AB. Urgent care centers deter some emergency department visits but, on net, increase spending. Health Aff (Millwood). 2021;40(4):587-595.
- Ho V, Metcalfe L, Dark C, et al. Comparing utilization and costs of care in freestanding emergency departments, hospital emergency departments, and urgent care centers. Ann Emerg Med. 2017;70(6):846-857.
Dr. Rushton is currently a third-year resident in emergency medicine at Spectrum Health/Michigan State University in Grand Rapids.
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