The CEO of Louisville, Ky.-based Humana said there are too many paths leading patients to the emergency department in a LinkedIn post published this week.
Humana CEO Bruce Broussard discussed how EDs — which are designated to treat life-threatening conditions — are often used to treat acute ailments instead. He wrote patients are negatively affected when information from tests completed in the ED are not passed to the patient's primary care physician. A lack of coordination in turn increases costs, he wrote.
"Given the fact that 71 percent of ER visits could have been avoided, more emphasis must be placed on and resources devoted to alternatives that can prevent ERs from being overloaded," Mr. Broussard wrote. He later wrote, "There are too many paths leading to the emergency room. That's stressing our larger healthcare system, and the time has come to do something about it."
Mr. Broussard offered five ways to fix the ED decision path.
1. See primary care physicians as a proactive force. Mr. Broussard wrote a primary care physician needs to be accessible, and if the primary care physician is not given a chance to intervene in his or her patient's management, the patient could decide to seek care at an ED.
2. Use specialist care when needed. Under primary care physician direction, "getting appropriate specialty care can help alleviate ER usage and drive down costs," Mr. Broussard wrote. "It's imperative that health plans and specialists find better ways to get at-risk patients in faster."
3. Increase medication adherence. Mr. Broussard said more resources should be allocated toward helping patients correctly adhere to their medications to avoid prescription misuse.
4. See urgent care as an option to decrease ED use. "Health plans and others must continue to help educate consumers about the rationale for" using an urgent care facility versus an ED, Mr. Broussard wrote.
5. Expand technology use. He wrote targeting at-risk patients with telehealth solutions and predictive analytics can ease overcrowding in EDs by instead meeting patients at their access points.