In this opinion piece by Joel Theisen, Lifespark CEO, that ran on the front page of Emergency Medicine News, Joel, a nurse by background, calls out the overuse that is occurring in emergency rooms, especially for seniors, and what we can do about it.
“It’s one of the most frustrating—and costly—signs of a health care system gone wrong: most people at a hospital emergency room shouldn’t be there,” said Joel. More than half of all hospital emergency department (ED) visits are nonurgent or treatable by primary care doctors,1 and as many as two-thirds of all ED visits by people with private insurance are avoidable.2
It’s 10 times more expensive to treat common ailments at a hospital than at an urgent care clinic, and 12 times more costly to treat the same problems than at a primary care doctor’s office, says a UnitedHealth Group® analysis.
Unnecessary use of the hospital emergency room by people with private insurance adds $32 billion per year to the price of health care. That wasted extra health care spending works out to nearly $100 for every man, woman, and child in the United States—whether they visited the hospital or not.
Because EDs are set up for…well… emergencies, people with more routine problems shouldn’t expect the best care at their hospital visits.
