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Most ERs would be well served by opening all-hour urgent care clinics directly adjacent, and triaging the roughly 70-80% of people with non-emergent and/or mino

Most ERs would be well served by opening all-hour urgent care clinics directly adjacent, and triaging the roughly 70-80% of people with non-emergent and/or minor issues into that wing rather than to the ER.

xyzzyz 7y ago
How exactly? Since it would do the same thing as ER, it would cost as much to operate as ER. The patients and insurance would win if this made them pay less, but the hospital would be a loser here with reduced revenues.
- lostapathy 7y ago
  Or it might mean they'd get a lot of business that would go to another nearby ER. Where I live, it's practical for me to go to an ER in at least 3 different hospital systems. If one of them offered 24-hour "urgent care" I would definitely go there vs the one closest to my house.
- mschuster91 7y ago
  > How exactly? Since it would do the same thing as ER, it would cost as much to operate as ER. No. The ER and its expensive specialists (e.g. trauma/accident specialists) can be reserved doing their actual specialized jobs (taking care of patients injured in car crashes, for example) without being clogged by some dude with a toothache. The ER only handles the real hardcore cases that can escalate to death in a matter of seconds, and the urgent-care facility only handles the "everyday" harmless stuff, which needs less and especially less-certified/experienced and thus cheaper staff.
  - xyzzyz 7y ago
    The ERs should already be doing this: if they have too much toothache cases for one trauma surgeon, they clearly won’t add a second trauma surgeon to the shift, they will add a general practitioner. If the trauma surgeon is not busy putting car crash victims together, he can handle the toothache just fine: he is already getting paid anyway, so it doesn’t make sense to keep him idle.
  - noelsusman 7y ago
    You're just describing the triage process that already exists.

xyzzyz 7y ago

How exactly? Since it would do the same thing as ER, it would cost as much to operate as ER. The patients and insurance would win if this made them pay less, but the hospital would be a loser here with reduced revenues.

lostapathy 7y ago
Or it might mean they'd get a lot of business that would go to another nearby ER. Where I live, it's practical for me to go to an ER in at least 3 different hospital systems. If one of them offered 24-hour "urgent care" I would definitely go there vs the one closest to my house.
mschuster91 7y ago
> How exactly? Since it would do the same thing as ER, it would cost as much to operate as ER. No. The ER and its expensive specialists (e.g. trauma/accident specialists) can be reserved doing their actual specialized jobs (taking care of patients injured in car crashes, for example) without being clogged by some dude with a toothache. The ER only handles the real hardcore cases that can escalate to death in a matter of seconds, and the urgent-care facility only handles the "everyday" harmless stuff, which needs less and especially less-certified/experienced and thus cheaper staff.
- xyzzyz 7y ago
  The ERs should already be doing this: if they have too much toothache cases for one trauma surgeon, they clearly won’t add a second trauma surgeon to the shift, they will add a general practitioner. If the trauma surgeon is not busy putting car crash victims together, he can handle the toothache just fine: he is already getting paid anyway, so it doesn’t make sense to keep him idle.
- noelsusman 7y ago
  You're just describing the triage process that already exists.