Hospitals’ aggressive marketing campaigns for their emergency departments, such as billboards advertising wait times, may foil state efforts to curb unnecessary ED visits, according to a Washington Post report.
In the report, several state officials said hospitals are passive or uncooperative when it comes to discouraging ED admissions for non-emergency reasons. Officials say hospitals might want to hold onto those admissions since they can boost profits, and that advertisements and other marketing schemes are meant to “actively recruit” patients for primary care services.
Officials from Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA and Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare denied the link between ED marketing campaigns at their respective hospitals and spikes in inappropriate ED volume. Tenet recently began accepting ED appointments online to make it easier for patients, but a spokesperson says its marketing efforts have not led to a “significant increase” in ED visits by Medicaid patients.
Despite hospitals’ sophisticated marketing techniques, states are still ramping up efforts to reduce unnecessary ED admissions. This year, Washington state will stop reimbursing hospitals for treating a Medicaid recipient for non-emergency care in the ED after the third such visit. A piece of Florida legislation still awaiting approval would enable the state to charge Medicaid recipients $100 for using the ED for routine care. Texas is planning to reduce hospital reimbursements for treating Medicaid recipients with non-emergency problems, as well.
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