ED info exchange cuts costs by 10%
An initiative by the Washington State Health Care Authority to use big data in emergency departments (EDs) reduced unnecessary visits by Medicaid beneficiaries by 10 percent.
The organization released a report detailing the mandatory program implemented in 2012 that requires Washington hospitals to use the Emergency Department Information Exchange to track patients' use of hospital EDs.
Patients' names are sent to the database when they register at an ED and then the exchange provides physicians with a list of recent ED visits by the patient.
To date, 424 primary care physicians have registered to receive automatic notifications through the system if one of their patients goes to the ED.
The report found that after one year of the initiative the rate of ED visits among Medicaid beneficiaries dropped by 10 percent and narcotics prescriptions for Medicaid beneficiaries fell by 24 percent. Medicaid ED costs declined by $33.7 million but that could be due to other factors.
Read the complete report.
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.