title: ED of future must connect patients, services.
abstract: In today's healthcare system, emergency departments can no longer be a gateway to the hospital. They must be a place where people can be triaged to the proper venue for care, says Karen Zander, RN, MS, CCMAC, FAAN, principal and co-owner of The Center for Case Management in Wellesley, MA. Patients are going to continue using the emergency department for primary care because of a shortage of primary care providers, making it difficult to get timely appointments. Many primary care practices will not take Medicaid recipients, leaving those patients no alternative for treatment besides the emergency department. Hospitals need to be able to connect patients to services such as home health and durable medical equipment and to help them get follow-up appointments.
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013997:Time Factors; D014218:Triage / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States