ED "Super-Utilizers" Are Center of Nationwide Initiative

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Two Cincinnati-based health organizations — the Health Collaborative and Health Care Access Now — announced (pdf) a collaboration to address "super-utilizers" of the emergency department.

Super-utilizers are patients who visit the ED very frequently, often for conditions that do not need ED care. Many of these patients face problems such as homelessness, hunger, lack of transportation, illiteracy, limited mental capacity, mental health challenges and addiction, according to the release.

The Health Collaborative is one of six organizations that operate quality improvement alliances under Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative that received funding from AF4Q to reduce unnecessary ED visits and their related costs.

The five other grant recipients include Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, Better Health Greater Cleveland, Aligning Forces Humboldt in California, Maine Quality Counts and Alliance for Health in Michigan.

Each organization received $200,000. The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, upon which the new initiative is based, previously received $900,000 in funding from RWJF, bringing RWJF's total investment in the super-utilizer initiative to $2.1 million.

More Articles on ED Utilization:

Study: Patients Go to ED Against Call Center's Recommendation
Shelby Baptist in Alabama Reports More ED Patients Since Chilton Medical's Closure

San Antonio Hospitals See Increased Volume After CHRISTUS' Pullout

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