Emergency room encounters of pediatric patients with asthma: cost comparisons with other treatment settings.
More than 67,000 claims from a national database were analyzed to determine the relative costs of treating pediatric patients with asthma in physicians' offices, hospital outpatient departments, or emergency rooms. Billed charges and paid claims for these cases in emergency rooms average more than 5 times higher than in physician offices. Emergency treatment generally results from a failure of proper management and education in the primary care setting. Educational programs for pediatric patients with asthma and their families could save resources as well as reduce the trauma often associated with visits to the emergency room.
Coventry
J A
JA
Systems Research and Applications Corp., San Antonio, TX, USA.
Weston
M S
MS
Collins
P M
PM
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D014481:United States