Keywords
quality improvement; medical overuse; hospital emergency service/statistics and numerical data; patients; patient admission; hospital utilization; resource utilization; frequent ED visits; care alert; care alert program; frequent admissions; crowding; patient dropouts
Disciplines
Emergency Medicine | Health and Medical Administration | Patient Safety | Quality Improvement
Abstract
Introduction
The Care Alert Program (CAP) is designed to help navigate encounters with patients who are high utilizers of Emergency Department (ED) resources. The CAP intends to address the needs of this challenging patient population by designing individualized care plans that are approved by a multidisciplinary committee. The patient populations that frequently use ED resources often have chronic medical conditions, a poor understanding of their conditions, unrealistic expectations regarding treatment, a lack of outpatient resources, and present with multiple complaints when using ED resources.
Methods
The CAP was adopted by our facility in the spring of 2020. The present study is an expanded version of a previously published pilot project conducted in 2020-2021, in which we demonstrated a decrease in both ED visits and admission rates.
Results
In this expanded study, we reviewed 46 CAP cases and determined the mean percentage of patient ED visits decreased by 42.3% in this patient population. Average hospital admission rates decreased by 50.4% during the initial 8 months after enrollment into the CAP.
Conclusion
Implementing the CAP is an effective way reduce hospital admission rate and average ED visits amongst high utilizers.
Recommended Citation
Leggett, Jonathan; Phelps, Kaitlyn; Nuñez, David; Wright, Brent; Gibbons, Erica; Bryan, Jonathan; and Griggs, Brian
(2025)
"Care Alert Program in Chronic Emergency Department Using Patients: Expanded Study,"
HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine: Vol. 6:
Iss.
3, Article 4.
DOI: 10.36518/2689-0216.1896
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.hcahealthcare.com/hcahealthcarejournal/vol6/iss3/4