Laws in more than 25 states permit insurers to deny coverage if a patient is intoxicated. Yet, as much as half of all people treated in emergency departments may be under the influence. To avoid not receiving payment, some emergency departments may dismiss tests of patients’ blood and urine for alcohol.
The extent to which alcohol exclusion laws in some states affects treatment and counseling of patients is unknown.
A March study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine tracks the outcome of a decision to take intoxicated emergency department moments and make them lessons for patients. More than 600 emergency department patients identified as hazardous drinkers (men drinking more than 14 drinks per week and women drinking more than seven in that period) took part in a seven-minute interview to encourage them to drink less and set goals for curbing alcohol intake.
The result: patients who received the seven-minute interview reported fewer episodes of binge drinking and drinking and driving compared to patients who received only standard care.
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