A new policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) discusses efforts to address ambulance diversion, a controversial strategy for temporarily relieving overcrowding in emergency departments (EDs). According to 2015 data, the national median time for a patient, from arrival to placement in an inpatient bed, was 279 minutes.
Ambulance diversion was initially viewed as a safety valve. However, the approach has yielded unintended long-term negative consequences and raises questions of equity, since it disproportionately impacts minority populations. Since many factors can impact ED overcrowding, experts generally consider restricting ambulance diversion, on its own, to be an ineffective and shortsighted strategy for addressing the problem.
The brief reports concerns in the policy community about the growing use of EDs (from 359 ED visits per 1,000 people in 1993 to 423 per 1,000 people in 2013), coupled with a declining number of EDs serving nonurban populations. As the brief suggests, risk factors for closure included low profit margins, safety-net status, and a high proportion of patients living in poverty.
About Health Policy Briefs
Health Policy Briefs are aimed at policymakers, congressional staffers, and others needing short, jargon-free explanations of health policy basics. The briefs, which are reviewed by experts in the field, include competing arguments on policy proposals and the relevant research supporting each perspective.
Sign Up For Health Policy Briefs
Sign up for an email alert about upcoming briefs. The briefs are also available from the RWJF's website.
Please feel free to forward the briefs to any of your colleagues who are tracking health issues. And after you've taken a look, we welcome your feedback.
from Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog http://ift.tt/2899PPa
No comments:
Post a Comment