A study has found many uninsured or publicly insured trauma injury patients are likely to return to emergency departments for routine follow-up care after they’ve been discharged from the hospital, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The study examined the records of 6,675 trauma patients from 1997-2007 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Approximately 13 percent of patients returned to the ED within a month of discharge. Nearly 90 percent of those ED visits did not result in hospital readmissions, suggesting that the ED visit was unnecessary and could have been handled for less cost in an outpatient clinic.
The study also examined the demographic patterns behind these ED visits. Uninsured or publicly insured patients were 60 percent more likely than those with private insurance to visit EDs for follow-up care. Patients from poor neighborhoods were 70 percent more likely to do so.
Study authors said these findings mean providers need better ways to help patients receive appropriate post-discharge care.
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